Gate: Rouge Trader
by The new god
Summary: Gate opens on a rouge trader controlled planet
1. Prologue

"What the..." William is lost for words as he was just standing by the window enjoying the scenery of the magnificent hive-city he's on when something caught his eye.

From his spire on the hive-city, he saw a bunch of what seems to be feudals riding on top of flying reptiles flying around the lower hive.

'Seems like that bump did more than I thought as now I'm clearly seeing things' he thought as he places his on his forehead to check and see if he's bleeding or anything.

(Author's note I heard that somewhere that in the old lore that people riding on top of flying lizards seems to be a thing in the past)

He then tried to recall everything that has happened.

He is William Alexander of the rogue trader house Lancelot.

Unfortunately, while he is part of a rogue trader house his is only a branch family and is delighted on the most boring and menial tasks, such as administrative tasks.

Saying that being a planetary governor of a planet is still not a bad position.

Unfortunately, William doesn't quite agree as since he was young he has heard stories of the adventures his cousins from the main branch and he has since yearns to go on such adventures.

At last, fate seems to be quite cruel to him as he's born only in a branch family whose primary duty is to manage the house's various holdings.

He has been scolded by his father, the current planetary governor, to give up such idiotic ideas.

Faced with such harsh cruel reality of the 41st millennium William is forced to be a measly planetary governor, far from all the wonderful adventures.

Commanding fleets of ships, conquering worlds, discovering ancient secrets and contending with Xeno foes. That's what William think about when meeting with his cousins from the main branch.

Instead of that he's stuck on an... agri-world... well... soon to be as this world is... still realistically speaking newly conquered world being only 500 years since falling into Imperial hands.

Much of the world is still underdevelop and is still infested with the planets, original Xeno inhabitants.

The original Xeno inhabitants of this planet are just a bunch of randomly scattered Stone Age tribals, nothing to be worried about. They're pretty much just an afterthought, more of a nuisance than anything else.

In fact William pretty much hunts them for sport, riding on top of his kriegan horse and trampling these primitive tribals, bring quite a bit of fun especially when you see them running and panicking.

(To help people imagine it's like that scene from the 1968 Planets of the Apes movie where the apes hunted the humans with guns and rifles while riding on top of horses.

Now that I think of it, it kinda makes me want to write a short crossover between 40k and 1968 planet of the apes where the Imperium shows up and starts slaughtering, enslaving and experimenting on these apes. Let's try lobotomizing them into mindless servitors)

William loves going in these hunting trips as he can pretend to be a rogue trader conquering an unknown planet.

On his last trip as he was messing around with the natives i.e. he got irritated by one particular Xeno primitive and decided to torture to death it's... family... friends... tribesman... fellow species member?

Now that he thinks about it he has no idea what it's relation with the others, William just found this guy as they were randomly... I mean strategically scouting and not far from where he is, William found a settlement of them.

William just assumes that there must be some relations between it and the settlement.

As what it did to that made William want to torture its entire tribe in front of it, well the bastard almost killed him louring him near a Canyon where large boulders are strategically positioned to fall from above with the slightest push.

Thinking back William should have heeded his men's word that it could be a trap but unfortunately, he just shrugs it off saying that "these are just a bunch of tribal Xeno, there's no way they could be that smart"

He went like "you guys step back as this is a duel between me and him" as he proceeded to head in the canyon alone confident of his high technology and the fact that he was sure that the enemy was not intelligent enough to make such a trap.

(It's like in the movie Predator, the Predator letting the human go cuz spirit of the hunt or something like that)

Needless to say, he fell for the trap if not for the fact that he was carrying a displacement field gifted to him by his cousin then he would probably be dead by now.

William cursed himself for his carelessness and it's quite humiliating for him to be outsmarted by a filthy tribal Xeno.

Now to add insult to injury that Xeno taunted him by shaking it's dumb on top of a cliff.

William of course enraged by this tried to shoot the nasty little but all his shot missed and the Xeno ran off.

But a strange twist of fate happened. When the ambush happened his men quickly rushes to where he was to protect him, on the way there they captured a Xeno native trying to flee the place.

At that time William was laughing maniacally as he imagines what he shall do to it.

Fast forward to a few days later

William got the native held down by his men facing a settlement worth captured Xeno natives staring back at it.

William then wave his hand and gave the order to "Begin!"

His men looked at him for a bit before they proceeded to do what they did.

Screams of pain could be heard for miles around and it continued until for a few hours.

'The look of utter rage on the Xeno's face is oh so delightful' William thought as he recalls the expression that Xeno was making and the convulsions he has on his body as he was trying to move but was helplessly held down by William's men.

Unfortunately, it somehow manages to break free and charges William.

It jumps up and tackles William from his horse causing him to fall head first backwards to the hard floor.

Moments later William's men rushes in and Xeno was quickly retrained again but the damage is already done. As William suffered a head injury and bleeding profusely.

Suffering such grave injury drove William mad as he kicked the Xeno while his men held it down.

Eventually, he has had enough of playing rouge trader for a while, as he ordered his men to finish things up here and ordered them to eliminate all surrounding settlements that is any shape or form related to this settlement.

He made sure to emphasise the "not to let a single one alive" meanwhile he ordered a Valkyrie to pick him up and transported back to the hivecity.

He is now back to in his hive spire taking it easy as his wounds heal.

As he's healing his wound William decided to look out the Window and gases at the hive City his family has been tasked to build up.

Which brings us here to the present.


	2. Chapter 1

I am writing this primary because most of the 40k fics I have seen doesn't really capture the... "Essence" of 40k.

While my English is bad but I think that people can feel just how 40k my main character is, he is not a generic good guy seen in all Japanese anime and manga.

It just doesn't feel right having that kind of main character in 40k.

I have also a few issues with the Gate series as it could have been great but the main character Youji Itami just doesn't work for me and the fact it happened in Japan. There is also that scene where they take the royal princess to his ex-wife who writes yaoi made me cringed really hard, oh and believe me there a lot of issues in that arc besides that.

There won't be such nonsense here!!! Comic relief seems to cause a lot of great ideas to turn shit stories or movies.

Anyway enough of my ranting.

Story stary

William doubted his eyes as he saw... judging by their primitive looking armor and weapon what seems to be feudals riding on flying reptiles cycling around the lower hive.

William stood there daze is as he looked the flying reptiles.

However he is soon knocked back to reality as the door suddenly slams open.

Slam

A servant came rushing through the door informing him that the hive is under attack.

"mi lord we're under attack!"

"what!?" William freaked out

'so it isn't a hallucination' William thought as suddenly streams of reports starts flooding his terminal.

With his father gone to the capital world all the decision making naturally falls into his own hands. With the sudden burden falling into his shoulders William couldn't help but feel a sense of pressure as the lives of hundreds of millions of human beings lays on his hands.

Seeing the sudden influx of reports William nearly panicked and fall into indecisiveness but he quickly regained his looked at the servant said "call in the commander of the PDT"

Soon he started organizing the reports to see what he's dealing with.

The reports came that they seems to be dealing with a human feudal army with Xenos and Mutants mixed in, it seems like they came through some sort of archway that works as some sort of portal.

Now as part of a rogue trader dynasty living outside of imperial space dealing with Xeno and Mutants is not all that uncommon, what is uncommon is that portal they're using.

'what is that?' William wondered as he looks at pictures of the gate.

As he was wondering an idea suddenly pops up as his eyes shone a bright light at that possibility 'could it be lost technology?'

Teleportation technology is considered a lost technology all but to a hand few high ranking techpriest.

Any lost technology could very well fech a high price, not to mention one that capable of transporting of vast distances as he was sure that these feudals didn't came from any planet with in system, not to mention an artifact capable of teleporting a small army would very well fetch a high price indeed.

'Perhaps the foolish feudals discovered a lost technology capable of transporting vase armies to other worlds and thought they should start invading other worlds, all the while completely disregarding possibility what is on the other side might be even stronger then them'

William let's out a creepy smile as he thinks of how much this thing is worth, William is already thinking the gate is already as good as his as to not even consider the possibility losing.

Despite the fact that he only has PDF armed with mostly auto-guns it is still more than enough to fight off these feudals.

While they do have a small number of "elite" units armed with las weaponry but they were reserved for the defense of the upper spire where all the important people live, not to mention William did take out most of them with his little "crusade" against the native Xenos and have yet to come back.

Suffice to say, William had to retire early due to his head injury while his men finishes up on things. Of course with the hivecity being under attack. They'll naturally be called back but due to with being separated by many miles of rough terrain, even with them riding on sturdy Kriegan horse it'll at the very least take many days just to reach back the hive.

Even without them the PDF is more then enough to obliterate the enemy and indeed William's confidence is not misplaced as the invading feudals is being mowed down at a rapid pace.

Seeing that everything's going well William's adventurous spirit roused up as he decided to go in and join in on the fun too.

He naturally disregarded his attendant's desperate plea to persuade him of doing something dangerous.

"Mi Lord is would like to strongly advise against this" his attendant Fredrick desperately pleaded against this.

"Now now Fredrick we've been through this before" William reassures him that everything will be fine.

"BUT! These aren't some mindless Xeno mongrels armed with... in your words 'sticks and stones' not to mention the last time..."

William cuts off saying "we've had this conversation before and like or not I'm going"

Fredrick stood silent for a moment before he sighs and said "very well my lord"

William then proceeded to get dress and heads out to the 'front lines'. Well... To be more honest it's more of a meat grinder with the invaders being the meat while the defenders are the grinder.

It took a while for William to arrive at the front lines as he has to navigate through the huge complex hive tunnel networks and passages.

When he finally arrives at the front, he has unfortunately missed most of the action as most of the attackers were already slaughtered or already routed.

William arrived as the 'invaders' or what was left of them is preparing for a final last stand against the seemingly (in the invader's perspective) unstoppable army.

The PDF already had them cornered in a central plaza of some sort as the PDF forming neat lines upon lines of firing lines. They're aiming their autoguns at the cornered invaders, ready to unleash a storm of lead at a moment's notice.

The lasgun, usually the lasgun is superior to an autogun but there are times when the autogun is superior to a lasgun. In this case the superiority of the autogun is its rate of fire.

While a shot from an autogun is generally inferior to an autogun but autoguns can also fire much more rapidly. The an autogun can fire 'hundreds' of rounds per minute while laser weapons would be hard pressed to match that.

There are of course weapons like the multilaser but those are expensive, long cool down time and cumbersome to work with.

Since a bullet can as easily put down an invader as a las-bolt then the only main difference between the 2 weapons in this case is the rate of fire.

The issue of supply line is pretty much none existent as they're in a hive city where such weapons were manufactured and not mentioning they'll also have a lot of armories in said hivecity.

Seeing the last bit of major resistance about to be mowed down with him just arrive William naturally ordered them to stop.

He didn't just go all this only to go back without doing anything. He of course didn't say that is his reason when the local PDF commander asked him why he stopped the assault.

William then said it's because...

Ah ha! It's because he wanted to capture a few of them to interrogate and extract information on the enemy! Obviously duh!

William then ordered the men set up a smoke screen to mask their attack, then he gathered the cavalry (horse cavalry duh) with him as the lead before he charges in to the enemy formation through the smoke screen, while the infantry will soon follow behind the cavalry and finish up the scattered formation.

But before all that he still has to do one thing first! That is of course a speech first!

story end

Well this chapter is over 1K words already so i'll cut it here. As you know my English sucks, so I prefer writing in short chapters as it's easier for my spell checker to work. The amount of spelling and grammar mistakes I make is causing my app to act very buggy when I write long chapters.


	3. Chapter 2

William looked at the hastily assembled cavalry unit before him.

"Sons and daughters of the Imperium! We stood here today on this planet far from Imperial space where even the Emperor's light is but a dim glow. We are here because of the sacred duty bestowed upon us by the high lords themselves millennia ago, our duty is to venture out to the great unknown and claim it in the name of the Emperor! When my grandfather first arrives here this planet is nothing but a barren rock infested with Xenos but through the course of these past few centuries through the blood and sweat of countless individuals we've finally managed to make a somewhat decent place to live, but then... THESE primitive mongrels dared to assault our city, trying to undone centuries of blood and sweat. That simply is unforgivable!"

Soon William picked up a Lance and started to charge at the enemy, the cavalry unit followed right behind him.

William charges through the smokescreen and soon arrived at the confused enemy obviously caused by the smokescreen.

What ensues next is a bloody clash that ended up with the enemy footmen getting skewered by lance strikes or getting trampled over by the cavalry and the rest pretty much got scattered as their formation messed up.

William rammed his lance at a feudal footman but as he was trying to pull out his lance it got stuck, so he decided to drop the lance and pick up his ornate power sword instead.

William looked at the chaos around as the cavalry unit is chasing down the help the helpless feudals.

Amidst the chaos William saw a fancy looking guy on horseback.

'undoubtedly a commander of some sort definitely need to capture' William thought as he made his way to that guy.

On the way there a dozen or so footmen tried to stop him from getting any closer but was quickly dealt with.

Suffice to say that having a power sword is simply unfair! One chop can break their weapon while another can cut through their armor, dismembering or even killing them in the process.

That commander seems to have noticed William as he fearlessly heads towards William despite seeing how his men were easily dealt with.

As the commander started galloping to him, William suddenly pulls out a Laspistol and shot the horse the enemy commander is riding on.

The shot hit the horse's leg causing it to fell on the floor while also sending its rider flying off it's back.

As William shot its horse the enemy commander has a shocked expression before turning into one that's incredulous.

The enemy commander ejected from his mount and flew for a bit before slamming to the cold hard floor. He rolled for a bit and as he tries to get back up, he suddenly found a sword right up his neck.

Needless to say, William is the owner of said sword.

Not long after the infantry finally arrives and captures the disorganized enemy.

A while later in the upper hive

As the prisoners are getting processed and interpreted William sat in his chair watching a video record of when the gate appeared.

William watches the gate mysteriously appearing and from them hordes of mutant/Xenos madly charges out, causing chaos and havoc where every they go.

William freezes the video and stares at the gate with great interest wondering what kind of world lays on the other side.

Looking at the gate Williams adventurous spirit is quickly ignited, but unfortunately something happened recently that requires a massive amount of manpower and weapons need to be shipped out.

William is not clear about the issue, he was pretty sure that his father did mention the matter to him several times, it's probably the reason his father was going to the capital planet but William hadn't payed much attention to it.

So with restrictions on manpower he'll have to be more careful with his usage of troops, no longer can he use the good old Imperial way to deal with problems that is by send waves after waves of people until the problem is gone. He'll now might actually have to consider... Negotiating.

William spat out the word negotiating with great disdain as he had preferred to make the enemy bend the knee through sheer strength of overwhelming might with the enemy having no other choice but to accept his decision.

He would have preferred it with the enemy having no say in the matter but with him lacking the troops necessary to hold a planet he'll pretty much have limited choice on the matter.

Well... He could still sit back wait for his father's return and let him handle it, but William obviously didn't consider that as it's highly likely once his father returns he'll most likely be forbidden to part in the action.

William recalled how much trouble he has to go through just get permission to go out and play rouge trader.

William is not going to let this chance to slip by! Before his father gets back he's the one in charge so he better move quickly.

William then orders the men to assemble and plans for an expedition through the gate.


	4. Chapter 3

I think that I'm making a manga instead of writing it out then what i'm writing would be 100 times better. Sadly I don't have the time or skills for that.

\--story start--/

A few days later

As the PDF finishes sweeping the hive of any stragglers, now William sat in his command Chimera as he organizes the beach landing force.

The first wave would be primarily made out of Chimeras armed with primary autocannons and a small amount of heavy bolters.

William envisioned the autocannons would be responsible for clearing the enemy ground elements while the heavy bolters would be for the air elements, namely those flying reptiles as they seems to be quite resistant to low caliber autogun fire.

So the first wave is Chimeras filled with mechanized infantry will move in to secure a foothold, then the engineers and heavy machine crew will move in to fortify the foothold before finally the mortars and artillery will be brought in once all nearby threats are eliminated.

William waited for the Chimeras to be assembled and ready before he waved his hand forward a top his Chimera, signaling the armored column to move forward.

"Advance!" William yelled

Soon the armored column moved forward into great dark archway that connects worlds.

...

Meanwhile beyond the gate at the Imperial Castle Ula.

"Please pardon me for my bluntness, but the situation is way out of control. We have suffered unprecedented casualties in the history of this empire. Does Your Highness have a plan to deal with this issue?

As a Senator as well as a noble, Marquis Casel did not mince his words as he addressed the Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, who was sitting on the throne.

If any of the Senators present in the hall should speak so carelessly with the Emperor, he would be forgiven. They believed that this was their duty as statesmen.

The Senate was a somber hall that forsook flamboyant decorations in favor of a subdued but sturdy architecture. There were around three hundred grim-faced men seated around the center of the hall on benches. These men were all Senators of the Empire.

Should one desire to become a Senator, there were several ways. One way was to be born into an influential family. No matter what country, nobles are a small minority of the population, but that did not seem to be the case in the imperial capital. If one were to toss a stone out of a window, it might well have hit a noble.

Thus, if you wanted to be a Senator, your nobility played no role. Even among nobles, only the cream of the crop could be appointed to such a post.

Did this mean that if you were not of noble blood, there was no possibility of becoming a Senator? This was not the case. If one held the position of a minister or a general in the army, he had a shot at joining the Senate.

In order to fulfill the daunting task of running a country, the existence of a bureaucracy was necessary. If a commoner possessed the qualities of a Senator, with some luck, hard work and a good record, they could be appointed to the Senate.

There were many ministers in the Empire; Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs, Finance, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and so on. Many of those that had risen in the ranks to become ministers or generals would be bestowed with a seat in the Senate upon retirement.

Furthermore, a general could join the nobility even if he were of common birth, as commissioned officers were granted knighthood.

Marquis Casel was born into a family of barons that were merely of the lesser nobility. It was only through his past achievements and excellent service as a minister that he was granted a seat in the Senate. He was a hard worker who always tried to do his duty. In other words, he was a man of character.

Thus, he was feared for his boldness and a sharp tongue that was said to reduce grown men to tears.

"It was a grave mistake to dismiss our adversary as weak and spineless after capturing just a few of them.

What should have been done is scouting; determining the enemy's true strength through reconnaissance. Then, it could have been concluded as to whether it would be wiser to engage them as friend or foe, " argued Marquis.

Undoubtedly, the circumstances in the imperial capital were dire.

The expedition had cost the Empire over half its army. Although it would be possible to rebuild it, enormous time and resources would be expended.

With its military power more than halved, how was the Empire supposed to maintain its hegemony?

In the thirty years of Emperor Molt's reign, he had ruled with an iron fist. Conflicts with neighboring countries beyond the Empire's borders, as well as with rebelling vassals and tribes within, were resolved through the power of the military, bringing peace and stability to the Empire. Nations had no choice but to submit in face of the overwhelming imperial armies. Those who stood in the way of the Empire were utterly annihilated.

No matter how resentful the vassals were of the Empire, in the face of powerful imperial armies, they could but conceal their anger.

However, now that the imperial military had been so thoroughly ravaged, would the oppressed vassals and foreign nations rise up?

As Marquis Casel, the leader of the liberal faction swung his toga around, he challenged the Emperor:

"Your Highness! How are you going to lead your country?"

When Marquis Casel had finished his speech, he returned to his seat. Gazing at the one who had criticized him, the Emperor calmly shifted in his throne, leaning forward and opening his mouth.

"Marquis, I have considered the circumstances. Following this loss, the superiority of the imperial army is threatened, yet it is useless to cry over spilt milk. Will the foreign nations and vassal states who have long hidden their hatred for us begin a rebellion and march into the capital? Ah, just thinking about that makes you lose sleep, correct? How heartbreaking."

At the Emperor's banter, the tense atmosphere in the hall was softened with quiet laughter.

"Do you remember the Battle of Akuteku 250 years ago, my dear Senators? How did our great predecessors react to the news of the army's total defeat? Did they lament their lost valor and pride, and negotiate for peace, which would effectively have meant surrender?

Do you remember how the women of the Empire responded?

They said: So what if we lost 60,000 men? We will birth that number in no time, they said, while rolling up their skirts for all to see!

There were heroines, and I hope there is nothing else to be said.

The Empire has weathered dire times like these countless times since its founding. Always, the Emperor has cooperated with the Senate and the citizenry to face these trials – that is why the Empire grew so powerful."

The Emperor's tales resonated with the Senators.

"There is never a certainty of victory in war. If the general were to take the blame for every setback in a conflict, there would be no generals. Should we be pointing the finger at one another while the enemy encircles the capital?"

If no man were to be the culprit behind the disaster, then naturally the Emperor was exempted from all responsibility. Realizing that the Emperor had effectively dodged his responsibility, Marquis Casel clicked his tongue in irritation.

Then, the Emperor continued his speech.

The expedition was manned with veteran soldiers, wise and powerful mages, and some of the strongest, fiercest orcs and goblins.

Abundantly supplied, intensely trained and led expertly, it was a force to be reckoned with.The general, the centurions and the rank and file all did their duty.

Yet it took merely seven days! Seven!

It was only seven days since the opening of the Gate. Counting from the day when the enemy begun a serious counterattack, it took them only two days to devastate the imperial army.

Almost all the soldiers were dead or captured. Only a handful would make it back alive.

Now that the Gate on Arnus Hill was captured by the enemy, it was impossible to close it, as the enemy had fortified the hill.

In order to regain control over the Gate, cavalry was sent to on a massed charge. However, that ended with the foot of the hill littered with thousands of stinking corpses of men and horses.

"Are you aware of how powerful the enemy's weaponry is? It went bang, bang, bang! The moment the enemy made that ruckus, our ranks collapsed in a spray of blood. Never in my long life have I ever encountered such incredible magic before!" exclaimed Godasen, a Senator and mage, excitedly.

The unit he led was blown away like leaves in a storm, unable to reach even the foot of Arnus Hill. Before he knew it, his surroundings were quiet and he was the sole man still on his feet. All he could see around him were bodies of men and horses lying in pools of blood.

Closing his eyes, the Emperor said, "The enemy has infiltrated our land. Although they are currently constructing a fort around the Gate, they will one day begin a full-blown invasion. We need to deal with the otherworldly enemy on Arnus Hill, as well as traitorous vassal states."

"Let's just wage a war with them!"

A bald knight, Marquis Podawan stood up and bowed before the Emperor.

"If cornered, the best way to fight back is to fight back with courage. Let's rally the forces scattered around the Empire and crush those rebellious vassals who dare stand against us. Then, we will turn around and destroy the enemy on Arnus Hill. To put it simply, we will attack the Gate!"

The Senators only shrugged their shoulders at his crude outburst, implying that if that were possible they would not have to discuss the situation at length. If they called up the remaining forces, the Empire would be left defenseless and descend into anarchy.

The hall became a scene of chaos as Senators begun arguing.

Podawan stressed unflinchingly that by killing all the rebels and enslaving their families, the cities would be deserted and the rebellion would cease. Shockingly, there were precedents of this in the Empire.

Back in the days when the Empire was still a small nation surrounded on all sides by enemies, imperial armies would not only enslave the people of the countries they invaded, but also raze their cities, burn down their forests and salt their fields to render them infertile. Thus, the region would become uninhabitable and harmless to the Empire.

(no idea how wealthy the empire was at that time but salt was an expensive commodity through out most of history and its only recently that salt became cheap with the advent of the industrial revolution, it's pretty extravagant to salt thier enemy's fields. In ancient rome they used to pay their soldier with salt (salis in Latin) the word later evolved onto the word salary. But it's fantasy so could be dirt cheap and falls from the sky)

"Even if we could do that, how are we going to defeat the enemies at Arnus? If we attack head on, wouldn't it just be a repeat of the Battle of Godasen?"

As the voice in the hall reached his ears, Podawan gritted his teeth and replied, "Just muster all the soldiers in the vassal states without telling them why. We could raise 100,000 and, even if they prove weak, we can use them as a meat-shield when we charge!"

"Would they be so obedient?"

"Then on what grounds should we tell them to muster their troops? Tell them honestly that we lost over half our own army? If we do that, we would only humiliate ourselves!"

Marquis Casel had a headache as he listened to Marquis Podawan's irrational and reckless blustering.

The growing tension between the hawks and the doves electrified the Senate's atmosphere.

"So what do ya say we do, huh?"

"Warmonger!"

The Senators had lost their composure and were on the verge of communicating with their fists.

Only time was wasted. Those few still in a rational state of mind fervently tried to hatch a plan but could not control the squabbling in the hall.

Amidst the chaos, Emperor Molt stood up from his throne.

Realizing the Emperor was about to speak, the quarreling Senators settled down.

"Although they were a little crude, Marquis Podawan's words were inspiring."

Hearing these words, Podawan bowed reverently towards the Emperor.

Before the regal Emperor, the Senators calmed down and listened to what he had to say.

"Now, what do we do? Do we watch helplessly as the situation deteriorates further? No. If that is off the table, all we can do is go to war. Let's follow Marquis Podawan's proposition and muster the armies of all our vassal states. Send a messenger to each country and request aid from the leaders to repel the otherworldly invaders of the Falmat Continent. An allied army amassed from the vassal states shall be raised to attack Arnus Hill."

'An allied army?'

The Emperor's words wreaked havoc among the Senators.

Around two centuries ago, in order to repel a warlike tribe of horsemen invading the Empire from the North, many nations banded together in battle. These countries were always fighting amongst themselves, but when they faced a foreign power from beyond, they put aside their differences and united.

Kings and knights who were once enemies stood together and repulsed the invading forces. This tale was passed down in the legends for generations to come.

"If you put it that way, then it seems to be a just cause."

"Nevertheless, it's somewhat…"

He was right. Was it not the Empire that had begun the invasion? The Emperor twisted the truth. While ignoring the fact that the Empire was the aggressor, the Emperor ordered the vassal states to commit troops to defend against the otherworldly invaders. This was shameless, but of course no-one said this aloud.

However, the Emperor could convince the vassal states to muster their troops by arguing that the invaders would not stop at merely destroying the Empire – they would conquer the entire Falmat Continent. Simply put, it was not the truth that mattered, it was the narrative.

"Your… Your Highness? The feet of Arnus Hill would be littered with corpses!"

Hearing Marquis Casel's words, the Emperor replied loudly, 'I strive for victory, but there is never certainty of victory in war. The fate of the allied army is unknown. If they fall, that will be unfortunate. If that were to happen, the Empire will send the imperial army to battle the invaders.'

If the vassal states' armies too were decimated, the Empire's military advantage over them would remain.

'This is thy mission in dealing with this crisis. Any objections, Marquis Casel?'

The Emperor had made his decision.

Marquis Casel stared at the Emperor, dumbfounded, and lamented the fate of the allied army.

The doves could only bow their heads before the Emperor and dispatch envoys to deliver his orders.

The dark night sky was brightly lit with flares.

The Kodou Rino Guwaban, the allied army, begun its attack.

The sizzling flares illuminated the advancing army at the foot of the hill.

In the front rode heavy cavalry, accompanied by giants, ogres, goblins and other fantastical monsters, casting terrible shadows on the land in their masses. Human soldiers forming a shield wall rolled forward behind them.

Flying in the sky were people mounted on strange, giant birds.

Their force numbered in the hundreds of thousands, impossible to count.

The forward observer screamed into his vox as he sounded the alarm.

"enemy sighted moving into range!"

Soon armed PDF units quickly rushed forth from what ever they were doing to the hastily set up trenches and ready their weapons.

Heavy stubbers and bolters are quickly dragged out from storage and quickly set, ammunition belts are hastily attached with a few clicks and the pull of leaves everything is ready.

Click click clock

'lock and loaded' the gunner thought as he points his weapon menacingly at the advancing enemy formation.

"steady! steady! Wait for the command!"

The Sargents yelled as they tries to prevent their men from firing before the enemy enters into range there by wasting ammunition.

The soldiers held their breath as they clenched thier autoguns hard. For most of these men this is their first combat mission while William would frequently go out in his little "Crusades" but he would always being with him his personal elite cavalry unit.

For regular foot soldiers like them are pretty much ignored as their used for to man the walls of the hive city and foot infantry are much more cumbersome to move.

So they're pretty much inexperienced, saying that it doesn't take a genius to mow down an enemy who lined themselves up in front of them.

Although they weren't yet accustomed to it, they weren't completely new to it now either. It was the third time enemies assaulted the place known locally as Arnus Hill.

The PDF soldiers held their breaths and waited for the order as the enemy closed in on them.

Twice already the attacking forces had been, to put it frankly, annihilated.

The common military equipment of that world consisted of swords, spears, bows and armor. The strategy was to form ranks and charge in unison. Sometimes they would use fire and bombs in their attack, but the weaponry was pitifully deficient in range and lacked strength.

Once they entered into range the artillery batteries started opening their first round of salvos.

Bang Bang Bang Bang

With the enemy-packed in huge blocks of neat tight formation, even with an in experience artillery crew its pretty hard to miss.

As the shells travel through the air it cause a high pitch sound making the enemy ground units confused as they looked around to look at the source of they sound.

Piii Piii Piiii Piii

Needless to say the shells landed in the enemy formation causing tremendous damage in a symphony of destruction.

Boom Boom Boom Boom

The enemy flyers enters into range of the bolters, all the bolters simultaneously opens up making a spectacular light show that ends with the enemy air units exploding in a spectacular fireworks of blood and flesh.

Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka

Nevertheless, the enemy kept advancing, determined to capture the hill.

Numerous bodies of men and beast alike littered the foot of the hill.

The PDF held their ground firmly and giving the invading army a torrent of neverending lead and explosives.

A few weeks later

Senators, nobles, and courtiers would gather in meetings, treating politics just like any other chores.

They would enjoy delicious foods, graceful dancers, gambling, courting before chatting with each other perhaps a little bit of intrigue here and there or perhaps they might be hatching some sort of conspiracy targeting certain individuals or families... The general political nonsense one would expect in a place of governance.

However, news of the disastrous campaign is giving them no good sleep recently, each of these officials had a grim look on their face as they entered the Senate floor.

The beautiful pieces of art now looked like pebbles on the road while the graceful music sounded hollow to them.

What caused the Empire to hold its dominant position among the countries when it was under the reign of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus was the overwhelming military force and immense wealth.

The reasons that the Empire was feared by many countries.

Now, with the recent disaster the Empire could be said to have lost an arm.

As the generals and nobles in the court were part of the expedition, there was a huge amount of casualties.

With such an outstanding amount of dead people, the nobles had to spend their day rushing around from one funeral to another.

The emperor himself hosted the ceremony with mourning clothes and the lazy days of the castle continued... Or so it would seem at first.

"Your Majesty, the Alliance Army has suffered a major defeat. The dead and missing have reached sixty thousand. If we include the ones who were wounded, but are still able to resume their duties, it is around a hundred thousand. The survivors of the Alliance Army have each returned to their respective countries." Domestic Minister Marquis Marcus reports the situation to the Emperor. (naturally it's not the God Emperor of mankind Duh! It's the... Shall I say false Emperor?)

These numbers had not included the ogres, goblins and giants. The demi-humans which had inferior intelligence were treated like warhorses.

Hearing Domestic Minister's report, the emperor nodded his head tiredly.

"Just as planned. The cowardly senators who were afraid after we suffered some losses have nothing to worry about anymore."

"But, the movement of the enemies from beyond the Gate is a concern."

"Hmm, are you getting paranoid?"

"I was born with this paranoia of mine. I will never attain such magnanimity as Your Majesty."

"So be it. In that case, I shall act as to relieve the worries of my trusted retainer. This is not such a difficult problem. The distance from Alnus Hill to here is far. It will be fine to use the Empire's extensive territory as a rampart."

The emperor continued.

If the enemies started moving their pieces, all the cities and villages leading up to the Empire shall be burned down, the wells poisoned and the food seized till the last grain of wheat. Therefore, amidst the scorched earth, no army could obtain supplies and thus stop their advancement. With this, no matter how strong their army and their mages might be, a chance for them to show their weakness would arise.

If there was no way to forage supplies locally, supplies would have to be sent from their own country. It would be a heavy burden on their horses. This way, the enemy's fighting potential would be lower the closer they get to the capital, giving the Empire's army the advantage when fighting near the capital.

If they built strongholds at various locations and forced the enemies to bleed, the enemies would gradually crumble under the pressure. Such was the basis of this world's military science.

Make the enemies advance deep into the enemy's territory and hit them when they are tired. Without doubt it was an easily understandable and effective tactic in any world. However, scorched earth tactics would turn their own lands into crisp, and it would be hard to undo the damage. Such tactics disregarded the livelihoods of the people by robbing their food and water, and the support of the people would be lost. Thus, the people would have resentment towards the government that would last for generations. Considering all these cons, it was hard to issue such orders politically. However...

"But...the tax revenue would decrease."

Marquis Marcus used a reserved manner to articulate the damage that would be done to the people.

The emperor only said "Hmph. Just cancel a few planned parades and postpone the plans for the imperial villa." For the powerful Empire, the suffering of the people and the approval of the citizens were such trivial things.

"There was talk of Marquis Casel, making a fuss."

"Why do I have to care about what Marquis Casel's sanity?"

"It seems like he and some of the senators are conspiring to declare a state of emergency counsel."

The Senate's counsel could veto the orders from the emperor. The Senate even has the power to dismiss the emperor.

In the history of the Empire, the number of cases where the thrones of emperors were threatened due to the counsel from the Senate was not low.

"Hmph, how interesting. Just let them do what they want. Who knows, this may be a chance to round up all those conspirators at the same time. Order the Privy Council to look into this matter."

Marcus had an astonished expression on his face for a second, but he still bowed respectfully towards the emperor.

The emperor's weapon against the Senate was the crime of treason. It required the Privy Council to present evidence in order to sentence them.

"It seems like many have taken the privilege of being a Senator for granted. Looks like it's time to remove the weeds."

Marquis Marcus bowed his head respectfully.

Suddenly, a voice that was clear as a bell cut through the quiet air in the palace.

"Your Majesty!" A disrespectful person appearing before the emperor was the princess. There are only few individuals who would dare to act in such a manner in front of the Emperor in the heart of the empire, one would require quite considerable familiarity with the emperor or status to do so, one such example is being the daughter of the emperor.

She had flame-like vermillion hair and white porcelain skin that was accentuated by her white silk garment. Kneeling on one knee, she displayed flawless court etiquettes.

"What's the matter?"

"The Empire is now having an emergency. What has Your Majesty did to curb this problem? Is Your Majesty getting senile?"

Such sharp words emerged from her beautiful face.

Realising that there was another one who mistook privilege for authority, Emperor Molt smiled bitterly.

The princess's tongue was sharp as usual.

"Your Highness, what urgent matters do you have to barge into the chambers of His Majesty?"

If the emperor's third daughter, Piña Co Lada just sat still with a smile on her face, she would look just like a peerless work of art. However, her sharp tongue have been said to have made weak men faint, which was infamous in Empire.

"Obviously, it's about the bandits occupying Arnus Hill. It seems that till this day Arnus Hill is still under their control. I couldn't imagine that your Majesty would still sit with such a relaxed posture after hearing what happened to the Allied Army. Marquis, have you reported the facts to his Majesty?"

"Your Highness, I certainly did give the report. The Alliance Army did suffer heavy losses, but they defended bravely against the enemy's invasion of the Falmat Continent. Thanks to the courageous Alliance Army who sacrificed their lives in the battle, the enemy who received both physical and psychological damage and are shivering in fear as they built strong forts in panic, hiding within like hibernating bears. Such enemies are no threat to us at all."

After hearing Marquis Marcus's words, Piña replied with a 'hmph'.

"I'm not a kid anymore, I know that how things are put across matters. But to turn an army's complete defeat into victory is unheard of for me."

"It's the truth."

"So you are going to sacrifice the truth and paint the history books with your lies?"

"Even if you put it like that, I cannot answer."

"You sly courtier! Isn't the Holy Hill of Arnus still under the enemy's complete control? They defended successfully? The truth is that the foot of the hill is filled with corpses."

"It's true that we took some losses…"

"Then, what are we going to do from now on?"

Marquis Marcus played dumb while explaining to her the projects such as recruitment of new troops and their training. Piña clicked her tongue annoyingly at Marcus's words that anyone who was army related would know of.

"How many years do you think it will take? Could you ensure that the enemies of Arnus Hill would sit quietly and wait?"

"Your Highness. I am aware of that. But currently, all we can do is to follow the steps of recruiting, training and rebuilding of the army. Even the vassal states have lost their troops. Even if another Alliance Army was formed, the time needed for it to become reality would be proportional to the national strength. Even if the other countries reconstructed their armies later than us, they will catch up sooner or later."

Hearing this, Piña exclaimed astonishingly:

"It would be impossible to defend against the invaders if we wait that long!"

Sighing, Emperor Molt held up his hand to stop their bickering.

Based on his observations, Piña had the tendency to cause unrest. Those without responsibilities were like this; always criticising but had no constructive suggestions. Even if they had made suggestions, it was all a wishful thinking that disrespected the tradition and social status of others. If someone voiced objections against them, they would counter by asking "What would you do then!"

For example, the only solution now is to follow the steps Marquis Marcus had said. Buying time for that would be dependent on diplomacy. To achieve that, the emperor's plan to gather the vassal country's troops and eliminate them in one go was successful.

The resigned emperor shrugged and said to his daughter.

"If you put it this way Piña, I have something to say."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Regarding the enemies of Arnus hill, what information we have on our hands now is very limited. Why don't you go check it out?"

"Me?"

"Yes. We are still rebuilding of the Empire's army, so we are lacking scouts and can't draw them from our standing army. The enlisting and training of new recruits will need time as Marquis Marcus said. The only troops that are free and is adequately trained would be your Order of Knights. If the knights are not your playmates for pretend games, that is…"

Under the provoking gaze of the Emperor, Piña shut her lips.

The time needed to travel to Arnus Hill was ten days on horseback.

It was the dangerous frontlines, where tens of thousands of troops had perished. Now she and her Order of Knights had to rush to there by themselves...

Furthermore, it wasn't for a magnificent battle, but a simple scouting trip.

For knights, who were mocked to be playing a game of pretend, although they took pride for being assigned missions, the contents of the mission were dissatisfying.

Also, she and her order of knights had zero experience in a real battle. Could she and her knights successfully complete this dangerous mission?

The emperor's gaze carried the meaning of 'if you don't want to then shut the hell up'.

"Well then. Do you accept this order?"

Gritting her teeth, Piña raised her head with a determined look and...

"I have received it."

After she said those proud words Emperor Molt responded ceremoniously.

"Umu, then I shall look forward towards your achievements."

"Well then, Father. I shall be on my way."

With that, Piña Co Lada turned her back to the throne as she left the hall.

\--story end--/

Long chapter this time. I copied a bit from the novel changed and added a few details.


	5. Chapter4

On day break

After the attempted night assault by the feudals.

William when out to the fields to personally inspect the carnage his men had wrought last night.

The air around filled with a heavy stench of of iron.

William walked around looked the piles upon piles of dead bodies around.

'so this is what a battlefield looks like' William thought as he walks over to a dead body and turns it over.

Once turned over William saw that the body belongs to a young man no older that him with a large gaping wound on his stomach, the young man died with his wide open with a terrible expression on his face.

William stared at the dead body for a bit thinking some before he knelt down and closed his eyes for him, William whispered "may your soul find the emperor's embrace" before he turned and left without looking back.

'Such was the way of life' William sights

Contrary to popular belief William is not without a soul, the ones he's fighting are humans after all not soulless Xenos.

Even so William will not show mercy just because they're human, mercy to the enemy is one of the most stupidest decision one could ever make.

They can only blame themselves for being on the wrong side after all according to the law enforcers of the Imperium 'innocence proves nothing'.

No matter the circumstance they found themselves here, the moment they picked the sword to attack him they should have been prepared to die.

He stood back up, dusted his shoulder and left the piles of body behind him as he returns to the base.

William looked sturdy looking permacrete walls under construction.

Awhile later

With the base looming pretty secure William decide to personally lead a team of scout to scout around this new world.

This is his one in a lifetime chance of being a rouge trader, he'll be a fool to let this chance slip by!

Naturally Frederick doesn't seem to quite agree with his foolhardy decision.

"Milord I must insist that you reframe from such reckless andover"

"relax I'm just going to look around and nothing dangerous "

"if your father was here..."

"enough about my father!" the mention of his father seems to have hit a nerve as it caused William to suddenly burst out.

Seeing that William is very determined the Servant changed to another tactic "at least wait for your personal guard to return from your "little crisade" before you head out"

Unfortunately they encountered Xeno ambush on their way back so they'll be delayed by a few days until they can hunt dawn these smart Xenos.

They're armed with obsidian tipped spear heads and they're well organised, much more organised the the usual bunch. Quite different from the previous ones they've encountered so far.

While it might no seem much of an upgrade as they're still quite easy to deal with as they're still in the Stone Age but the difference between your regular rock and obsidian is quite big, it would be like comparing Iron to steal.

Obsidian is pretty much the best material that can be found easily and quite plentifully one could use to make non-Metalic weapons.

It is even said that obsidian could be sharpen to a point that the edge is only 3 manometers thick!

Anyway if left unchecked the could turn to be quite deadly.

Obviously these smart ones can't be left to run wild and spread their new ideas, otherwise they'll be a pain to deal with later.

'you gotta nip it at the bud' his father always said, so the proper "elite"army to return is preoccupied instead he'll just take one of them PDF scout units to look around and have a little adventure of his own.

Sure these PDF units might seem be dubious in quality especially since they're pretty much untested, but william is pretty confident on his own troops besides they're a bunch of feudals! What could they possibly do to autogun fire? And it's not like William would lead a bunch of scout troops to assault the enemy's capital or something crazy like that.

So after a hefty debate finally manages to convince Fredrick to let go on his little adventure.

His scout unit primarily comprises of a chimera armed with one of the few lascannon they have (he's important after all so he gets a lascannon instead of an auto cannon) and a unit of horse cavalry with autoguns.

Naturally William is inside the chimera under safe protection of centimetres of adamantium plates that could certainly stop anything these feudals could throw at him.

...

A while later

A scout suddenly reports that he found a smoke trail in the far distance, so William popped out of the chimera's hatch to look at the situation.

Indeed there's smoke in the far distance.

'Wild fire perhaps?' William wondered as he takes out a pair of binoculars to examine the forest fire.

William looked at ragging fire from a far and amidst the rising smoke he saw a large flying lizard breathing out fire.

William was for a second lost for words while he was familiar with the flying lizards wounds the feudals were using but he had never seen one this large before.

To use an analogy if the ones the feudals were using before (wyverns) is a chimera then what William is seeing now is equivalent to a baneblade.

The sheer size, sturdy look scales, vicious looking teeth and it's ability to breath fire. If it's looks is anything to go by then this is most certainly a very dangerous creature and one he should not mess with... At least with his current forces.

That is to say William doesn't discount the fact that he wants that creature's head as a wall hanger to brag about to his cousins.

He would be like "look I hunted this vicious monstrosity that towers above even the tallest Adeptus Astartes..."

William could only dream of such a day but for now he just let it be for now.

Yes! It is he who lets it go not that he is to afraid to take it heads on duh!

So he waited until the giant lizard finishes burning down the forest before he told his men to head for the burnt forest to investigate.

When they arrived they saw a charred forest with a thick smell of charcoal as grayish white ash flys over the place.

William could still feel residual heat from the place, one could only imagine how hot the flames was coming out of the lizard's mouth.

William got out of the chimera and ordered his men to search the place, William is pretty sure animals woundn't just wonder around burning native habitats.

"Fan out and search the place" William yelled as his men quickly showered into the bunt forest looking for something out of the ordinary.

It didn't take long for them to find a burnt remains of a settlement of some sort. Amongst the wreckage of ones former buildings are several blackened Human-shaped objects. Instead of Human-shaped objects, it would be more appropriate to call them burned mummies.

"Sir these are..." a young trooper commented as it seems that this is his first combat deployment.

"Steady your nerves boy, you'll see more gruesome things in the future" a scruffy looking veteran Sargent kept the young trooper in line.

William on the other hand is not fazed at all as he did burn down entire Xeno villages and slaughtering entire regions each time he heads out.

All though it's kinda disconcerting when seeing the burnt bodies are human shaped.

William walked over to a burnt mummy and knelt down to examin the body. He picks up a stick and started poking the body trying to gleam anything from it.

Unfortunately the bodies are burnt to badly so he couldn't make anything out from them.

Poke poke poke poke

William pokes it some more unit...

Tweak Snap... pisss

William seems to have poked through something as a yellowish red puss came gushing out and sprayed all over his face.

...

William is silent for a while before he slowly stood back and slowly wipe away the puss on his face.

William is obviously not a bit pleased with what has just happened, obviously as a gentleman he won't snap and start taking out his anger on the mummified corpse. (Meanwhile a Xeno on anotworld is rolling in it's grave)

Instead he looks around the dilapidated settlement to find something he could wash himself of this filth, he eventually found a well.

Near the well is a bucket with a rope attached to it, now while William is not a feudal but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what is the use of these items were.

So He dropped the bucket into the well attempting get some water but instead of a splash..

Bonk

Obviously that is not the sound of a bucket hitting water, it's the sound of a bucket hitting something hard.

William didn't expect that so frowns and he looks deep into the well.

...

William stares at the body in the well for a bit trying to make out it's features. At first glance it seems to be a pretty human girl but upon closer inspection one would an oddity on her, that being her long ears.

Now in the 40st millennium mutations isn't not that uncommon after all humanity has been exploring that stars for millennias now, there's bound to divergence in the human genome.

There're many types of mutations first is the natural kind brought about by evolution through thousands of years of living in harsh climate. If the divergence isn't to severe like only having purple eyes then they're pretty much ignored and treated like another human.

There's also some cases where the divergence is quite severe like in the case of the Ogryns or the felinids, then they'll be classified as ab-humans and would be treated as secondary citizen.

The second kind is mutants! There're 2 types of mutants. First is national mutations but unlike the ab-humans they're not the result of thousands of years of evolution, instead they're change is something to have accrued in one generation.

Like for example if your mother is human then you are born with extra arms then you're a mutant or if you are suddenly exposed to a chemical and suddenly grows a pair of arms. These types of mutants are... tolerated? Well kinda as long as they hide in the shadows then nobody would care to much.

The next is mutations brought about by Warp. Like touching a warp stone and sudden growing tentacles. This type of mutation is not tolerated in the imperium and would be killed on sight.

William looks at her features and they all seems natural which would mean it's unlikely to be a mutant as mutants are usually ugly creatures, undoubtedly brought by sudden changes in a short time fram not unlike the selective breeding of the ab-humans which are more tolerable in appearance.

So William I'm the end William classify her as something in between human and ab-human. Not that such classification matters this far from imperial space,but he'll eventually have to explain it to his father later so better place himself in the best possible light as possible, ideally by not associating with warp tainted mutants.

After some deliberation William called some of his men to haul her out of there.

"You guys come over here and get her out from that hole"

William order while pointing at the well.


	6. Chapter 5

After hauling that ab-human out of the well William order his men to scour around for more survivors which he would interrogate William is quite curious about a few things pertaining to this new world.

One is that despite having the baseline humans they also have a lot of ad-human variants, usually there are only one ab-human species per planet but on this world there seems to be more than a dozen species. Quite peculiar don't you think?

While they may not be officially recognized by the Imperium but due to the Imperium bureaucracy, it isn't strange for human ad-human species to be discovered only buried under a mountain of paperwork and forgotten for a very long time.

They searched around for a bit but is unable to find any more survivors.

The a trooper then reported their findings three large buildings and twenty-nine mid-sized to small buildings in this settlement, but they only found twenty-seven bodies,

'There should be more... ' William wondered as he scratched his chin

'Perhaps they all fled when they saw the giant flying lizard setting the forest on fire' William thought as he looked out to the direction where the creature flew off to.

As he was thinking about that a trooper asked him what to do with her.

William turns his head and replied "we'll take her back to base for now"

Then he looked at the position of the sun in the sky 'it's already midday huh?' It seems that he got tied up on this little investigation for a bit.

William decided to backtrack to the nearest village and hopefully inquire more information about the Giants flying lizard before heading back to base.

Obviously William feels very ill-equipped to handle that giant lizard, if he had known then he would have brought a few more missile launchers along on this trip.

So they head to the nearest Village called Kouda Village.

The unconscious ab-human was brought into the chimera along with the medic to watch over her, after all William doesn't want his first loot in his first adventure to die on his way back.

William is pretty sure he'll find some use for her somehow, willian then recalls how his cousins having those exotic Xeno servants they got from their adventures.

They would always compare amongst themselves about their 'party' members and how unique the circumstance of their meetings was.

At those times William feels left out or in other words he is not part of the cool kids.

The trip to the village was peaceful without much problems encountered on the way.

A clear sky without clouds and vast plains as far as the eyes could see.

The villagers of Kouda were weary at William and his group at first but after a bit convincing, they were welcomed into the village none the less.

Nationally William had to be all diplomatic and the like "we mean you no harm bla bla bla" that kind of nonsense.

The villagers were not hostile and just greeted them casually.

William then looked through the data pad in his hands as he searched through the list of known words to asked the villagers if they know anything about the giant flying lizard.

William told the village chief that he just saw it destroy a settlement in the forest... Well used to be a forest.

William then describes the creature they saw.

" Big scaly lizard... Fly... Breath fire... Burn village"

William the preceded to show the village chef a picture of the lizard and The chief's face instantly turns pale when he saw the creature

"This, this is a dragon, and a Flame Dragon on top of that!"

'it seems the creature the saw is part of a species of lizards called "dragon" and the one they saw seems to be a subspecies called "flame dragon"

William then inquired about the ab-human he found.

"me... found... not human... Big ear" William said awkwardly

"Not Humans? you mean Elves. Those living there are Elves." the village chef replied.

'Interesting It seems that the girl he found is an "elf"' William thought.

"We are very grateful you told us this. We have to alert the villages nearby. Dragons who know the taste of Elves and Humans will attack villages and towns when they get hungry."

After hearing such alarming news the chief quickly shouted to his family and the people around him.

When they learned that a dragon attacked an Elven village, the face of the villagers turned pale and they ran off.

William inquired some more about the "elf"

It seems that Kouda village had some interaction with the Elven village in the past.

The Elves watch over the forest, stopping the hunters from wandering into its depths. They would also help the hunters when they were lost or injured, even going as far as to escort them home.

Then the village chief said that they're evacuating the village.

"We are escaping. If you didn't inform us, the entire village would be destroyed."


	7. Chapter 6

There was a small patch of trees located some distance from Coda Village, and within those trees was a small house.

The house was roughly the size of two six-tatami rooms. There were two small windows in its walls which were designed to allow the maximum amount of light and wind into the house, due to the lack of glass in this world.

Its walls were made of sun-dried bricks laid on top of each other, and was covered in ivy vines.

The light that filtered through the arching canopy above them warmed the surrounding air causing the house to have an elegant feel to it.

Someone had parked a wagon in front of the house. The bed was buckling under the weight of a small mountain of crates, sacks, and books tied together with twine.

After looking at the amount of luggage on the wagon and the donkey grazing beside the road, one might ask if this was too much for one poor beast to draw.

In front of this heap stood an obviously troubled person, clutching a bundle of books.

She was a girl with silver hair, and looked to be around 14 or 15 years of age.

"Master, we can't keep piling things onto the wagon."

No matter what they did, they simply could not cram anything else onto the wagon. The girl calmly related this fact to the person inside the house.

"Lelei! Can't you think of something?"

A snowy-bearded old man poked his head out from a nearby window, with a "I can't take this" expression on his wrinkled face.

"It would make more sense to leave the Coam fruits and the Lochte pears behind."

The girl called Lelei removed the sacks full of ripe fruits from the wagon one after the other. She placed the book bundle she was holding into the space that was freed up.

Coam fruits and Lochte Pears were herbal medicines that were very effective against high fevers. However, these fevers were rare, and so they were not particularly necessary in the short term. And while they were rare, they were not unobtainable by any stretch, so the precious books she had just loaded up took priority over them.

The white-haired old man sagged his shoulders.

"The Flame Dragon shouldn't have woken up for another 50 years, why now…"

The news of the Flame Dragon's attack on the elf village had spread like wildfire.

Normally, they would have dropped everything and fled, but since they had warning in advance, there was still some time to pack. As a result, the village was filled with activity as everyone made their preparations to escape.

The old man grumbled and carried the sacks which Lelei had taken off the wagon back into the small house. There was a secret door under the bed where he planned to hiding them .

In the meantime, Lelei guided the donkey over and hitched it to the wagon.

"Master, you'd best mount up quickly."

"Ah? What are you saying? I'm not interested in mounting a little girl like you.Your big sister would be much better… Oh yes, your big and bouncy sister…"

"..."

Lelei glared at the old man with the coldest look she could muster. Then she proceeded to solidify the air into a lump and launched it at him. The solidified air was still only about as hard as a rubber ball, but it still hurt when it hit someone.

"Hey! Stop it! Magic is not a toy! Magic is not to be used for personal gain or enjoyment… Hey!"

"..."

"Although there's still some time, we can't play around like this. Let's move out soon."

"I got it, I got it, no need to rush… you really can't take a joke, can you?"

The old man gripped his staff in one hand and settled into the seat next to Lelei. Lelei, on the other hand, glared at the old man and spoke.

"Jokes are meant for entertainment between friends, parents, lovers and other closely related people. However, once they start taking on a sexual nature, one must start taking the other party into consideration as well. For instance, it would be completely unacceptable to start making lewd jokes around a teenage girl. This might well irreparably damage the relationship with them. I believe this should be common knowledge for mature individuals, no?"

The old man sighed deeply as his disciple lectured him.

"Huu… I'm so tired. I wish I didn't have to get old."

"Objectively speaking, that is incorrect. I feel that Master is as hardy as a cockroach."

"Now that's what I call rude. Is that how a disciple should be speaking?"

"This is how I was raised from childhood, and I was raised by my Master."

After her unreserved words, Lelei lightly struck the donkey with her riding crop.

The donkey obediently tried to move forward, but it could not, because the wagon's bed was overloaded.

"..."

"...Like I said, we're carrying too much."

"That was expected. Also, you were the one who said we could keep piling things on, Master."

"..."

Lelei quietly jumped off the wagon.

She felt that it would be better to keep walking than sit still on an immobilized vehicle.

"Oi, oi! Lelei, you need to be more patient! If you're like that, nobody will want to marry you, and that would be a shame!"

As the old man said that, he took up the goad and struck the donkey. The donkey tried its best, but as expected, the wagon refused to budge.

Lelei noticed that one of the wheels was embedded into the ground, about a third of the way in. If it was stuck like that, it was only natural that the wagon could not move.

"Master, I think you need to get off the wagon."

"Don't, don't worry. After all, don't we have this?"

The old man raised his staff, and Lelei sighed. Mimicking the tone of her master, she replied:

"Magic is not a toy. Magic is not to be used for personal gain or enjoyment…"

Sweat poured like a waterfall from the old man's forehead, and he rushed to answer her.

"We are magicians, we do not walk like the rest of Humanity."

However, he could not defy Lelei's glare, which was utterly devoid of warmth or compassion.

The old man's mouth opened up as if he were going "ah~", and he began chanting the words he had not spoken for a long time.

"..."

His solemnity as an educator clashed with the other feelings in his heart. It would seem the old man's next move would take some time. After a while, he looked at Lelei with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"I… I'm sorry."

"That's fine. After all, I know that's how Master is."

Lelei was a child who did not sugarcoat her words.

After using magic to lighten the weight of the luggage, the donkey could easily pull the wagon and its mountain of cargo. And so, Lelei and her Master sat on the wagon and left the home they had occupied for many years.

As they drove the wagon to the center of the village, Lelei noticed many families with wagons full of things, much like herself and her Master. It wasn't just wagons they used, but haywains and plow harnesses, and some people had even loaded up their horses with saddlebags.

Lelei looked closely at the other villagers, as if she were studying them.

Her Master spoke.

"You're an intelligent child. Everyone else must look foolish to your eyes."

"It's only natural that Humans would flee with everything they could carry once they heard of the Flame Dragon's approach."

"You said it was natural for Humans… does that mean they're foolish, then?"

"..."

Lelei could not deny her Master's words.

If they really valued their own lives, they would immediately drop everything and run as far as they could. Stopping to take on and secure luggage would only waste time that could be spent on fleeing, and the luggage itself would slow them down. It would be too late to abandon it when the Flame Dragon came.

To begin with, why did humans even struggle so hard to survive? Death was inevitable — it would happen sooner or later. What was the point in slightly prolonging one's life?

Lelei logically dissected the topic as she considered it, and the old man was agonizing over how to speak with her.

When they reached the center of the village, the way forward was blocked by a line of wagons.

"What's happening up ahead?"

The column of wagons did not move, but Lelei's Master received a reply from someone in front.

"Ah, it's Kato-sensei. And Lelei too. Ah, we're in trouble now. Someone overloaded their wagon and the axle broke, and now it's stuck in the middle of the road and blocking everyone. We're all pitching in, but it'll be a while.

They would be bogged down by the wagons behind them even if they wanted to turn around and take another route. This was what some might call a Catch-22.

As her Master was talking to the villager, Lelei's attention was drawn by a group of mysterious men, who spoke a language she had never heard before.

"Sir the chimera is trapped in the middle of town and can't leave" A reported to William

Obviously when every one is suddenly trying to flee from the village before the dragon arrives and naturally with the sudden roadblock everything is grounded to a halt.

Now William obviously can't be rash in this situation and just order his men to destroy what ever is blocking that way.

Such a brutish and forceful way would undoubtedly have negative consequences instead he has to keep up appearance after so he has to be all nice and deplomatic.

"Help them move things faster... Oh and be nice to the native" William told his men.

The veteran of the group then takes charge and organized the men.

"all right boys you heard what the boss said get to work!"

""""yes sir!""" the men replied as they quickly busy themselves.

Back to Lelei

At a glance, these men were all dressed in grayish clothing with bits and pieces of armor that consist of a helmet (Sallet), breastplate, a pair bracers and greaves.

(The types of armor the PDF of a planet usually depended on the environment they live in or what type of foe they're facing. Since they're primary facing a stone age enemy, I have taken a few inspirations on the conquistadors with a few changes like the helmet. I changed it to be a salet as the Spanish Morion is not really my thing)

Although the leader of these foreign soldiers seems to be the young man wearing a fancy blue coat with frills on the slevees and a strange triangular hat on his head. (think of late 18th century clothing)

He also has a bits of incredibly ornate armor on that signifies that he obviously of no common birth.

Lelei examines their appearance and tries to recall if she has ever heard of such a group before. Try as she might but it would seem that they didn't belong to any group she had heard of.

Although she wasn't quite sure what they were saying, the men leapt into action under the orders of a roughly 45-year old man.

From the look of things, he seemed to be the Sargent. They felt like some sort of military organization, the kind that contained their violence with rules and regulations.

She told her Master that she was going to "check things out", and got off the wagon.

The wagon that was the cause of this incident was roughly fifteen wagons ahead.

One of its axles was snapped, and the wagon lay sprawled across the road. She could see scattered luggage, a fallen man, as well as a mother with her child. The horse was collapsed on the road, its mouth dripping with foam. It flailed its limbs as it struggled to get up, so the villagers who wanted to help it stand up were unable to approach.

"get back! Danger!" it was one of the men in gray.

His words were unclear, but judging by his gestures, he must have wanted her to keep back.

However, Lelei realized the fallen mother and child were injured. She brushed aside the man and continued on, ignoring the flailing horse beside her.

"Still alive."

The boy was a little younger than Lelei, about ten years old. After giving her a quick once-over, she found that he had struck his head, and his face and limbs were gradually turning pale. His sweat was flowing like a squeezed rag, and his body was rapidly cooling.

The mother was unconscious, but her condition was stable. The child was the one in danger.

"Lelei! What are you doing? What happened?"

She turned back and saw that the village chief was shouting at her. Beside him was a man in green. He must have gone to inform the chief about this.

"Chief, I think the cause was overloading of the wagon and rot in the axle. The child is in great danger but his parents should be fine. The horse is beyond help."

"Is Kato-sensei nearby?"

"He's worrying his head off in the wagons behind. He let me come here to take a look."

As she spoke, one of the greymen with that has an armband with a strange cross symbol began his triage of the child Lelei had looked at. His technique suggested that he had been medically trained. The young noblemen began signalling to his team.

Suddenly a cry rang out.

"Danger!"

"bang!"

The sound of an explosion followed shortly, and when Lelei looked back, the thrashing horse lay motionless on the ground. It had missed her by a hair's breadth, but if it had come any closer, the full weight of the horse — ten times that of a man — would have fallen on top of Lelei.

All Lelei knew was that the men in gray had done something to the frenzied horse, and that it had saved her. (should I call them men in gray or graymen?)

...

The allied armies, gathered under the Empire's banner, vanished in the span of one night.

Suffice to say when armies upon of the armies of the empire kept being slaughtered, it would naturally have a destabilizing effect on the country at large. Especially considering that in a feudal world the military is pretty much serves as a police force to keep order in the city.

With these policing force gone or drastically reduced then the undesirable elements would naturally become bolder in this moment of weakness.

Bandits would become bolder in their targets changing their hunting grounds from some rarely visited roads to main roads to sometimes even assaulting villages and cities.

They say evil comes when the light of order flickers.

This can't even be more true than now as the forces of order weaken and flickers the forces of chaos makes their rally.

Evil forces plot their a schemes.

Not far from Coda Village in a bandit encampment.

"Boss! Coda Village is about to make a move!" a bandit said to the bandit leader.

Ever since the Flame Dragon appeared, scores of villagers had fled. Laden down with luggage, they could not move fast, nor could they fight back. Why not attack them? There was no reason not to do so. They would slaughter and pillage them.

After hearing his minion speak, the boss laughed in satisfaction. It was a good idea, so they should go ahead and do it. But as he thought about it...

"We don't have enough people."

It would be asking too much of his band of twenty-odd men to take on an entire village at once.

"About that, why don't we get guys from around the area? That way, we can work together to bring in the biggest haul ever."

This was also a good chance to recruit more hands.

With enough people, they could successfully attack entire villages, and even towns. If he played his cards right, he — cast out by his lord — might even aspire to become a lord himself.

From a bandit to a lord. The sweet dream of going from a wretched little thief to the ruler of his own domain filled his mind.

This nameless bandit chief's final moments were spent imagining a time when he would be happiest. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

Either way, his head fell from his neck, with a curiously comical "goro" sound.

It rolled across the ground and into the campfire.

The stench of burning hair and scorched flesh instantly filled the campsite.

Biologically speaking, a severed head could retain consciousness for several seconds. That being the case, the chief would have experienced his head falling to the ground. His field of view would have rolled with him, and before he realised what was going on, he would have seen what used to be his body spurting blood .

After that, in his rapidly blackening field of view, he would have seen the black-haired goddess of death bathing in his fresh blood.

The first thing anyone would think when they saw the girl was "black".

Her skin was so pale it was nearly transparent, her hair and clothes were black, and her eyes were bottomless pools of obsidian.

The bandit chief's severed head flew with a "pyun".

She held a heavy halberd in her hands.

It was a weapon that looked like someone had attached a heavy, slablike axe blade to a long shaft. It wasn't something a fragile little girl could swing like a matchstick. Nor was it something a girl in black lace should be wielding. That she could use such a weapon with her delicate, slender arms and her thin little fingers, as pale as white jade, was far beyond anyone's ability to imagine.

She rested the halberd over her shoulders, and exhaled loudly.

The girl was surrounded by the scattered corpses of the bandits.

"Well, that was fun. Ojii-san-tachi, thank you for tonight."

She grasped the hem of her skirt and curtseyed elegantly.

At a glance, she looked to be around 13, and judging by her beauty and refined movements, she seemed to be a very well-bred girl. She had a brilliant smile on her face, but that smile did not reach her eyes. Her black pupils were filled with a hungry darkness, like a fathomless abyss.

"Thank you for offering your lives to me. I thank you on behalf of my god. My god is very pleased with your gift, and he says that I should enjoy myselves with you."

"...What! What the hell are you!"

Among the surviving bandits, one of them managed to shout with far more courage than he felt, although his bowels were frozen with fear. He deserved praise for still being able to speak despite the present circumstances.

"Me?"

She smiled adorably.

"I am Rory Mercury. Apostle of Emroy, God of Darkness."

"I-is that the formal wear of the priestesses of the Temple of Emroy? One, one of the Twelve Apostles, Rory the Reaper?!"

"Ara~ you knew? Mhmh~ correct."

In the face of the laughing girl, the bandits scattered like leaves.

They left everything behind and fled with all their might, driven by their fear of death.

"What, what the hell, how can we fight an Apostle!"

"Oh, no. No no no no no. You can't run away."

Rory jumped, carrying the heavy slab of metal that seemed to weigh several times more than her. She pursued the fleeing bandits like a ferocious carnivore hunting down its prey.

The halberd cleaved through the bandits' heads like she was splitting watermelons at the beach, and the surrounding area was strewn with chunks of flesh.

"Ueh, abbah… aiiiieeeee!"

Rory towered over of the fallen man. She swung her halberd lightly, sweeping it behind her legs before she raised it high above her head.

Her snow-white skin was dyed red by sprays of blood.

"Ufufu… God-sama said so, you know. The goal of all life is death. No Human can escape it."

A pitiful scream rang out just as the halberd swung down.

Not far away

"Haa… haa… haa… why, what is an Apostle of Emroy doing here?!"

The man cursed his misfortune as he ran with all his strength.

A pitiful scream rang out from the distance. Rory the Reaper had claimed another soul.

"Damn, damn it!"

There were no paths in the wilderness at night. The countryside was littered with swamps, rock formations, thorny thickets and trees. The man stumbled occasionally, his body was covered in mud and sweat, and his clothes were torn.

Once more, a howl rang out from in front of him.

He slipped on a patch of mud.

His body slid across the floor, and he bashed his head against the ground.

"Dammit, dammit, dammiiiiiiit, why is my luck so damn bad!"

"Ara~ weren't you having fun?"

There was the sound of footsteps.

Upon hearing the clear, bell-like voice, he desperately looked up. The black-clad girl towered over him, backlit by the silver disc of the moon.

"Weren't you having fun just now? Didn't you kill people?"

She planted the pointed tip of her axe between the man's spread legs, a hair away from his groin.

"Aiiieeee! I, I, I've never killed anyone!"

"Ara, really now?"

"It's true! This was the first job I did since I joined! The women too, they said I had to wait till the end since I was the new guy! I didn't even lay a finger on them!"

"Hmmmmmm?"

Rory thought briefly about this before speaking to the man again.

"The other jii-sans have all been called to be with Emroy. Don't you feel lonely by yourself?"

The man shook his head desperately. He was not lonely, not lonely at all.

"However, won't it be sad if you're the only one left out?"

"No, please, I would really like to be left out!" the man begged.

Rory looked at him with a cold gaze that was as sharp as a knife.

"What should I do with you, then~"

As she said that, Rory clapped her hands together.

"I've got it, this should be a good idea. Since you haven't done anything yet, why not start now?"

With that, the black-clad girl grabbed one of the man's legs.

He could feel an unimaginable strength that belied her delicate appearance.

"Ru run ra~" she hummed to herself, as she dragged the man like a mop.

"It hurts! Please stop! Gwaahhhh!"

The wilderness here was filled with rocks and sand. They tore the man's clothes to shreds as he was dragged across them, and then rubbed his sweaty skin raw. Soon his body was covered in his own blood.

"Who did you like more between the mother and the daughter?"

"Noooo! Please stop! Gueeehhh…"

"Don't stand on ceremony, this is the end for you, anyway. I'll ask nicely so you can do them."

Rory grabbed the man's leg and tossed him.

He landed in a ragged heap beside the mother and daughter.

"Well, go ahead then. It's your turn."

The man frantically shook his head.

The legs of the naked women remained spread, a hollow testimony to their violation. Their arms were raised, as though hailing the Emperor.

Neither of them were moving. By the looks of things, they had stopped breathing.

"Ara~ what a bother. The two of them have passed on."

It would seem they had been raped to death.

"So sorry, we didn't make it in time."

Rory closed their unblinking eyes and lowered her head. Then she smiled to the man.

"Still, since they're like this, why not do them anyway?"

Dampness spread through the man's crotch, and a puddle of liquid formed below him.

The nature of chaos is it will always devour itself? (yeah I just made the bantids sound like a rising evil only to be nonchalantly killed by a little girl. The good old switcheroo)


	8. Chapter 7

The bandit youth pleaded for forgiveness.

He was prostrating on the ground as if in prayer. His face was covered in tears and snot, groveling for Rory to show mercy. He claimed that he had not committed any sins directly, that his hands were still clean. He had no choice but to resort to banditry in order to survive. He had reflected on his actions and turned over a new leaf, that he would work seriously and so on.

Rory sighed as she watched his pitiful appearance.

She averted her face in disgust as if she had seen something dirty. She felt that she was going to be tainted by his filth if she looked any longer.

There was one major condition when killing others. The way Rory saw it, there wasn't any sin in killing people. The important thing was why; what was the intention and their attitude when doing so.

That was the teaching of the god Rory served.

What was wrong with thieves and bandits robbing others?

What sins did soldiers and executioners have for killing enemies and death row prisoners?

That was how she saw it.

The god Rory served didn't differentiate between good and evil.

She tolerated all kinds of people, respecting the careers they chose in order to live, and respecting the path they had to travel. Therefore, a bandit just needed to act like a bandit.

If this man could look into Rory's eyes proudly like a bandit, Rory would show him the appropriate respect. As an apostle of her god, she might even love him for that.

However, what was with this man's attitude?

First of all, the excuse of saying his hands were still clean was unforgivable. The moment he became a bandit, he became a member of a group that relied on numbers and violence. It had nothing to do with him taking part directly or not.

And it was inexcusable to resort to banditry simply because of poverty. If he couldn't get food, he should just lie down and die.

Those who lacked ability and didn't have the luck to fill their stomachs could choose to live on as beggars. Rory liked and respected the tenacity of such people.

Stupid as a human, despicable as a man. There was no value in his existence. The man's ugliness made the apostle of darkness twist her beautiful face into a scowl.

Rory issued her command coldly. He was to dig three graves.

The youth answered that he had no tools, but Rory replied that he had the pair of hands given to him by his parents. And so, the youth started digging graves in the wilderness.

Unlike sand pits or farmlands, digging a hole in the wild wasn't easy. His fingernails peeled off and his skin was torn, but whenever the youth wanted to stop because of the pain, the giant halberd would slam into the ground, inches away from cutting off his fingers.

Driven by terror, the youth forgot all about the pain from the moment before, digging with all his might into the ground covered by rocks and grass.

Shortly after, he buried the father of the family.

Then the mother.

And lastly, the daughter.

When he started using his numb hands to cover the grave of the young girl with mud, the sun started rising, lighting up the surroundings.

The man did all that because that was the condition for him to be released. No, that was just what he believed. The man turned back to seek Rory's opinion.

"Is, is this okay?"

With thirst, hunger, fatigue and the pain in his hands, the man who was about to faint saw it.

He saw the girl clasping her hands in prayer— the figure of Rory.

Kneeling down on one knee, she clasped her hand in devoted prayer. Basked in mysterious sunlight, she looked beautiful and noble, stealing the breath away from all who saw her.

Her dark flowing dress was like an attire for funerals, and her hair was black and long.

White porcelain skin.

Her lips, which looked as if they were painted scarlet with blood, formed a smile.

The girl stood up after finishing her prayer and lifted her halberd up high. She swung the symbol of her faith and her god's love down at the man who didn't even have time to turn around.

...

The Elf who lived in Koan forest, Tuka, the eldest daughter of Hodor Ray Marceau, still thought she was dreaming.

With her eyes which were blurred as if they were covered by a veil, she could see humans rushing about.

Did something happen? Her mind wasn't working properly, only allowing her to watch and listen without any introspection.

The grayish bulkhead of the sealing remains unchanged despite all the moving and stopping motion she is feeling.

She appeared to be in something similar to a... Metal carriage? Tuka is pretty sure the grayish sealing she is seeing is metallic in nature but that can't be right.

It started moving and stopped, and moved and stopped, over and over again.

What she saw from the opened entrance of the carriage were the tired figures of the people carrying luggage, as if they were running away from something.

The carriage laden with luggage creaked as it advanced.

It started moving but stopped moments later.

Suddenly, her vision was blocked by a black figure.

"Quot puellae facere suus?" From a man's voice. (Google Translate to Latin basically means "hows the girl doing?")

There was someone conversing just out of her line of sight, but she couldn't understand what she was hearing.

"hows the girl doing?" William asked the medic quite curious about the girl's condition.

"Sir She is gradually regaining her consciousness. She can open her eyes slightly now." the medic replied

Their conversation was nothing but meaningless noise to Tuka.

Her fever had subsided. He wasn't sure about her vitals, but they remained stable so she was probably fine, at least that's what the medic said.

"The trek of refugees is slow and not making progress, more and more problems keep occurring and the number of injured and drop outs keep increasing. This escape is slowly exhausting them."

The villagers wore depressed expressions. They felt fatigue in their bones, hunger in their stomachs and thirst in their throats. The piercing wails of babies abandoned by their escaping parents permeated the air. People bleeding from accidents on the road. The sun glared heavily on their backs only adding to their struggle. The worst part for the villagers, however, was all the mud. Mud which coated the ground and caked their pants and shoes which they had no time to shake off.

There was a carriage that couldn't move because the road had turned into mush, so the family sat beside it. However, even if they wanted to, the villagers couldn't offer them a hand. They could only abandon the dropouts with blank faces. They didn't have the will or energy to spare. The father carried his child, pleading with the passing carriages to at least save his baby.

Dropping out from the caravan meant death. They lacked food or water for subsistence, and would most likely fall victim to wild beasts and bandits.

It was natural to abandon. It was natural to be abandoned. This was the line between life and death, the law of nature.

Someone please help.

Such prayers were meaningless.

Someone please help.

The gods would not offer salvation. They would not come to help, and would simply stand there and watch from above.

Someone… Someone please help.

Like tyrants, the gods ordered them to die.

That was why the only ones who could save men were other men.

The strange men wearing gray gathered before the immobile carriage. If it was just the wheels stuck in the mud, they could still help.

For William is not completely heartless, he would occasionally help the unfortunate... when he's in the mood.

"Alright, we are going to push!" A scruffy middle aged man yelled.

"Give it all you have got, show me what you're made of!!"

On command, the team pushed on the carriage with all their strength. After recovering the carriage stuck in the mud, the men didn't even wait to receive thanks before returning to their amazing carriage that was not pulled by horses.

The villagers wondered just who they were.

They were not soldiers of this nation or the residents of this village.

They informed the village about the impending danger and then immediately offered their aid.

But when a carriage couldn't bear the load and broke down, they became cold-hearted.

"Whelp looks like there's nothing we can do anymore" William said

While William could help them carry a few of their luggage but William is like 'nah too much hassle'

The gray men and the village chief approached the villagers standing stunned before their luggage.

Next, the chief would convince them to take only the luggage they could carry on them. The villagers never considered abandoning their luggage. It was the food they lived off and their wealth. How would they survive if they lose these? But the chief still made them abandon their luggage. With their luggage abandoned, they had no choice but to go on. What about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? With no hope in sight, they could only take one step at a time in tears.

William's men just shrugs it off seeing this scene as these people doesn't know true despair.

Living in a hive city breathing air that is recycled a million times, eating tasteless food made with recycled waste material, working in hazardous manufactorums filled with toxic fumes and dangerous working environment, not to mention the wage... if you can call it that as they make the exact amount to just barely keep themselves alive no more no less.

That's what true despair means, no hope no salvation only the never ending struggles.

They did well in joining the PDF to get away from that life.

They continue onwards escorting the caravan to safety.

"Sir if I may so boldly asked?" The driver of the chimera asked William

"Go on"

"Why are we even helping these people?"

William stoped for a moment and thought about it for a bit before he replied "We're helping to them to get connections..,"

William then rambles on about his cousin's experience of helping a bunch of mutants on radio active planet with a downed ship and the mutants gave him a navigator who was enslaved by the mutants as he was the wrong kind of mutant.

That navigator turned to be quite skilled as he navigated his cousin's with great skill making journeys quite short and safe.

His cousin bragged about that navigator a lot and there was even one time they traveled so fast that they even managed to travel back a day time.

As William was telling stories to the chimera driver he suddenly saw a bunch of birds flocking around.

"That's weird, ravens are circling around there."

William looked forward with his binoculars again. He then discovered a girl squatting by the side of the road, surrounded by ravens.

"A child?" William wondered as he seems to have a sense of foreboding.

The child seems to be wearing a gothic style dress which is kind of strange as this is his first time seeing anything gothic since coming to this world.

She was between twelve to fourteen years old. She looked very attractive, a real beauty.

A girl like that was squatting at the side of an empty road, her black jewel like eyes staring this way without even blinking.

'There is something about this girl but I can't quite put my finger on it' William thought as he sent one of his men to go ahead and talk to the girl.

'Judging from her dress, she doesn't seems to be a native' William thought

When the trooper tried to converse with her, the troop seemed unable to communicate with her.

When the wagon train reached the girl, she stood up as if she had been kept waiting, dusting off the dirt on her dress, easily picking up her huge halberd and walking alongside the chimera.

"Hey, where did you come from, and where are you going?" girl was spoke in the local language.

William couldn't converse fluently with her. William could only squeeze out a few sentences after desperately tapping on his data pad looking for the right word.

The one filling in the gaps in their conversation was a boy about seven who was sitting in the inside the chimera which William let a few of the kids sit the chimera on a whim.

'I knew I had use for them' William thought feeling proud of his "foresight"

We are from Coda Village, Onee-san."

"Hmm~? What about these people in the strange outfits?

"I don't really know, but they are nice people helping us."

The girl walked a circle around the HMV that was moving at walking pace.

"So they are not forcing you to go along?"

"No, a Flame Dragon came and they're helping us escape."

They concerned a bit more before the girl suddenly starts to examin the chimera with interest.

"I wonder how this thing moves?" The girl asked

"I'd like to know as well. But I don't understand what they are saying… But riding in it feels much better than a carriage!" The boy replied excitedly.

"So~ riding in it feels good?" She asked curiously.

Before he could even stop her, the girl boarded the chimera from back.

The seats at the front faced forward, while the back seat faced the center. There was enough space to store equipment in the center.

Needless to say it's packed full of children as William sat on the turret so he doesn't care pretty much.

The girl who entered while saying 'excuse me' wasn't welcomed by the villagers. They didn't state their reluctance openly, but still showed a troubled expression.

"Hey, it's cramped, Onee-san."

"Ah~ wait a moment."

It was already a tight fit, and on top of that, she brought something so long in with her.

The halberd was long and heavy. No matter how she positioned it, the halberd would touch someone's head or face causing them to shrink away because it was cramped inside the Chimera. As a result, it was placed onto the roof of the vehicle.

She then looked for a place to sit, but there wasn't any space. With no other choice, the girl sat on the lap of the man was on the turret that being William. (I know that turret hatch don't usually have a seat as people would just stand there. But! Chimera also has almost uncountable variations so it wouldn't be hard for someone who like sitting on the turret and installed a seat there.)

Needless to say the girl was testing William's patients.

While she is pretty but unfortunately she seems a bit too young for William's taste, which resulted in William being uncomfortable.

'who is this brat anyway!?' William thought as a tick mark appeared on his head.

William endured as he is a high born with infinite generosity and understanding, he wouldn't be bothered by such trivial...,

Right then the little girl seems to have taken an interest in William's powersword as she reach out to touch it.

"little girl would you please reframe from touch my sowrd" William at first tried to civil by gently telling her to behave herself but as he said that in low gothic the girl naturally didn't understand and ignored it.

The girl continue to fiddle with the things around.

"Don't touch that" "Don't touch my laspistol"...

One side wanted to push the other away while the other side was fighting for a place to sit. The low class fighting thus began.

T he struggle between two parties who couldn't communicate verbally eventually ended with William giving half his seat away.

William felt that continuing to argue with a child who couldn't understand him would only shame himself so he generously gave half of his seat to the poor girl who's as far as he know is hitching a ride.


	9. Chapter 8

William wanted to conquer the new world with a near endless waves of troops sweeping over the new world.

If only he had a few regiments of soldiers this world would be already his by now, sadly reality rarely go where you wants so he has to settle carefully and slowly.

Beating the enemy is not the problem, the problem is holding the captured territories with insufficient man power as he would have to send troops for garrison for each settlement he takes.

William tried to do the math and no matter how he did it, he always comes up short on the amount of troops to garrison the empire alone.

Well that could change in the future but for now he had but a fort on the hill the locals calls Alnus.

It has permacrete walls, anti-air batteries, artillery batteries, heavy bolter positions, heavy stubber positions and layers upon layers of barbed wires.

Although he got the anti-air batteries and the artillery batteries by "borrowing" from the hive's defensive Improvements, to which Fredrick gave him an lecture of the dangers of weakening the hive's defenses.

Saying that William is pretty confident in the invulnerability of the base... At least with whatever the feudals are using its impossible to make a dent in its defenses.

Now back to where we last left

The roaring sounds of the engines of the chimera, the armored vehicle made a cloud of dust in its trail.

Thevchildren in the vehicles had to endure the rocking of the vehicle from sharp turns and changes in speed, causing their heads and bodies to collide with each other. Gritting their teeth, they endured the pain.

Looking out of the view port of the vehicle, the view was blocked by the escaping Coda villagers.

And the black shadow falling on them from the sky.

It was the Flame Dragon.

It was the third day of the exodus from Coda Village, and the refugees thought they were out of the Flame Dragon's hunting grounds. However, the beast suddenly appeared and immediately began attacking its prey.

Thanks to the prior knowledge of the Flame Dragon's appearance, Coda Village and a few other nearby villages had all simultaneously fled from the beast. After the Flame Dragon couldn't find any humans or Elves to prey on, it followed its nose to a place filled with humans.

Since the preparation for escaping had taken some time, and they were weighed down by their luggage, the slow speed of the Coda Villagers had allowed the Flame Dragon to catch them.

"Give it the Emperor's wrath!"

The veteran shouted furiously at the beast as he lets out a spray of auto-gun rounds at the beast from horseback. Maybe it was due to the over-secretion of adrenaline by the brain, but a hint of joy could be heard in his voice.

Ratatatatata

Unfortunately, the auto-gun rounds did very little, infact it seems that the dragon does even notices that it's being fired upon.

The Flame Dragon swooped down at the villagers who had stood frozen in place.

"Suppressive fire!" William ordered and everyone simultaneously opened fire on the beast creating a dazzling light show.

Ratatatatatatatatata

Ratatatatatata

Ratatatatatatata

Ratatatatata

As good as it might look like however the tough dragon scales deflected all of the bullets.

"It's useless!" A young trooper commented

"shut up and shoot boy!" The Sargent yelled keeping the young trooper in line.

'with this many guns while it can't hurt it, it would at least annoy that creature' William thought.

And it worked! The beast constantly being pelted by auto-gun rounds slowed down a bit, which allowed the farmer who was already in its mouth to escape.

Being annoyed the dragon turned his head towards the men and looked at them with its one eye murderously.

Yes, one eye as it seems an arrow protruding from its blind eye, but nobody could look directly at its terrifying visage.

Bfoooooooooooooow

The Flame Dragon breathed fire at them like a heavyflamer, but was unable to reach the wildly evasive horse William's men are on.

"Ono! Yuniryu!! Ono!"

A female teenage voice came from inside the chimera.

As he turned around, golden hair entered William's line of sight.

The pale Elf pointed her slender fingers at her eyes whilst shouting "Ono!" repeatingly.

As Williamis not a dumbass he instantly understood what she meant.

"Aim for the eyes!" William shouted

The PDF troopers trained their sights on the face of the dragon and opened fire.

The Flame Dragon looked visibly annoyed as it turned its face away and stopped its movements.

At this moment William suddenly remembers something as he opened his eyes wide.

"didn't we have a missile trooper!? What the hell have been you doing!?" William yelled as he searched through his men only to land on a young trooper with shaking hands.

William tell seems to snap the trooper out of it as it hurriedly picked up the missile launcher and fired.

Foooosh

And the missile flies away, unfortunately in the rush the trooper didn't aim property as it seems the missile would miss.

Usually it's a would be a guided missile but due to guided missiles being more expensive than unguided. So when deciding to which types of ammunition should the hive produce in the early days of the settlement his great grandfather choose the more economic friendly one. Since then the incident is pretty forgotten as the missile launcher rarely used anyway.

The missile accelerated towards the Dragon with flames sprouting from its tail.

The dragon which had lost its balance spread its wings to regain its balance and slowing its speed trying to evade the missile. However, its footing suddenly slipped.

Looking closely, there was a halberd stuck straight into the ground.

On the top of the chimera, the goth lolita girl somehow managed to climb atop the chimera and thrown the halberd from there. Its handle hit the leg of from creature.

The Flame Dragon fell in the direction of the missile, which should have missed.

Due to the Neumann Effect, even the tough dragon scales were unable to resist the blast. It exceeded the Hugoniotic elasticity limit of its armour and broke through, blasting a hole clean through it.

If one compared the anatomy of the Flame Dragon to that of a human, the whole left arm was blown off.

The air vibrated with the wail of the Dragon, it roared at the pain all the while a hint of rage could be felt in it.

The Flame Dragon's piercing roar caused a brief lapse in the PDF's fire.

Seeing such large and powerful creature reduced to this is really something.

Seizing this opportunity, the Flame Dragon flew into the sky.

Spreading its wings, it flew unsteadily as it gained altitude.

The PDF watched silently as it flew away from them.

The Flame Dragon had been repelled!

Meanwhile from the Feudal's perspective

If they told others this story in a pub.

Anyone would be suspicious and say "Are you kidding me!?"

People who could slay Dragons single handedly would only appear in myths and legends.

Triumphing over bears and buffaloes barehanded was still possible if one trained hard enough. But to fight an Ancient Dragon was suicidal.

Even if an entire order of knights, equipped with magic armor and weapons, magicians, priests, and Elven archers and Spirit users were sent against an Ancient Dragon, it would still be futile. This was common sense in this world. As such, Ancient Dragons meant disaster.

However, the news of "Although it wasn't defeated, it was still driven back" did not come from a single source, but from many people. Thus, many people believed it. On the other hand, there were people who said "It may be the truth, but are you sure it was a Flame Dragon?".

The Flame Dragon's active period occurred every 50 years, as mentioned earlier. In addition, it was hard to imagine that anything could defeat an Ancient Dragon. With that in mind, it would be more convincing to say that the Ancient Flame Dragon was actually a large Dragonewt or a Slither Wyrm.

That said, a very old Dragonewt could grow to the size of an Ancient Dragon. Slither Wyrms were also more dangerous than Wyverns. With that, even killing one of those lesser dragons could qualify a person as a Dragon Slayer. With more than half of the villagers still alive, they had more of a reason to believe that "It's only at that level."

In this world, death could come to anyone, at any time. Being lost in a forest meant death, playing beside the river and falling into it by accident also spelled death.Thus, for humans who had an enemy such as the Flame Dragon who can rain death upon them, the news that the dragon was repelled gave them hope and led them to spread the news further. Every one of them were curious about who the new hero was.

There were three types of survivors from Coda Village.

Some of them were villagers who could seek out their family or friends nearby. Those were the lucky ones, as their family and friends guaranteed their safety whilst providing them with accommodation and job opportunities.

The second type were villagers who had no family or friends and had to live the life of a refugee. These people, who made up the majority of the villagers, had no accommodation or job opportunities. Although they worried about how to live through the next day, they still prayed in gratitude that they had survived this disaster and hoped that Lady Luck would help them as they scattered throughout the land.

Each of the surviving villagers grasped the hands of Itami and his subordinates, and thanked them profusely.

To the refugees, the PDF were mysterious beings. They had helped them escape and even fought the Flame Dragon, although they had no obligation to do so, and asked for nothing in return (more like they nothing to offer)

Given that they could not speak the language, they did not seem like knights or priests of this country. If they were the army of a foreign nation, the villagers would have been slaughtered and pillaged. (William would have loved that but as he's playing this diplomatically he has to play nice and be on the good side of the people, a key part in Williams plan is have a few of the natives rise up and join his side, then he'll help the rebels to overthrow the empire setting up a puppet in its place. For that he needs positive PR)

Although there seems to be a noble looking young man with them.

Of course, they were not bandits.

The most reasonable explanation for them was that the PDF was a group of foreign mercenaries that was accompanying a young noble on his whims of adventure.

A mercenary group, they would usually not lent aid without seeking profits. Thus, the villagers were scared about what sort of recompense the PDF would demand in return for their power.

However, they did not ask for a single penny in the end.

Not only that, despite their praiseworthy accomplishment of repelling a Flame Dragon, they had gloomy looks on their faces and sunken shoulders that made people think that they were on the losing side.

They would also on occasion look at a particular young trooper with the "big metal rod" that droved the dragon away with strange eyes. (they could have been killed! If the bastard just picked up the missile launcher at the start and the just shot the damn lizard then none of this would have happened!)

They even helped to bury the dead (a priest happened to be nearby and performed simple funeral rites).

Gazing at the PDF who were waving their hands at them even after the villagers were out of their sight, the villagers of Coda Village could only smile bitterly.

(William is told them to wave their hands, keep up the smile and wait until nobody's around before they beat the bastard that put them all in danger)

Incidentally, villagers of Coda Village On their journey met a lot of people who asked for confirmation. In other words, "Was the Flame Dragon really driven off?".

"It was really a Flame Dragon, I saw it with my own eyes. It looked at me with eyes that said 'pitiful humans'...huh? Who, you ask? They were the people who wore a strange grayish clothing and armor. They were humans, for sure. Not Elves or Dwarves. Maybe it's the Eastern tribe's attire. Although they could not speak our language, they were smart and they kept trying to learn our language. They were good people, they helped us to escape without asking anything in return. For free, I tell you! It's true!"

Unlike the bards, they did not have a wide vocabulary and their description of the events was quite rough. But what they had seen with their own eyes needed no exaggeration.

The listeners' imaginations were easily stirred when they heard the survivor's words, leaving a large impression on them. Because the witnesses had seen it with their own eyes, when they were asked "So what was it like?", they could answer their audience's questions.

When the scene was described where the dragon's arm got blasted off, the listeners gulped and quietly said, "How, how powerful."

They parted ways with smiles on their faces and without asking for anything in return.

Even the PDF troopers themselves would have asked "Who are you talking about?" After all, a tale of heroes that would not even be found in legends was currently spreading among the people.

In the bars or even on the street, the refugees would be stopped and asked "Are you from Coda Village?" And because the villagers saw different things from different points of view, what came out of each of their mouths were naturally different. With this, their words painted a surprisingly realistic scene.

"Knight Norma, what do you think?"

In the Imperial courts, there were female knights who served as aides. One of them, Hamilton Uno Ro, asked her senpai, who was also her colleague, about the tales from the street.

Several knights and their followers sat in the corner of the rowdy tavern, filled with guests. The bar was dirty, and it only had a little space between tables. The place was so noisy that one might not be able to hear what was being said at a nearby table, unless one shouted. Amidst this noisy atmosphere, the knights and their followers sat side by side reaching out with their hands for food and holding their cups full of wine.

Glancing over, there was a girl from Coda Village working as a temporary waitress who was serving her customers from a tray of ale. After she set the plate of dishes down on the table, she described what she had seen, and collected a good amount of tips.

Knight Norma, whose mustache was neatly trimmed, had an uncomfortable look on his face.

While he was at court in the sparkling clean palace, he enjoyed delicious meals prepared by the wives of the nobles or their daughters. Although he was part of the Princess's order of Knights, they were nothing but a decoration of the court and had nothing to do with the frontlines. And now, an aide like himself was eating crude dishes and murky alcohol.

Although it was a mission, it did not sit well with him.

How the hell did I get myself into this mess…? Norma felt like cursing his superiors. Just keeping himself from doing so had taken all of his willpower. Since it was a direct order from the Princess, the mission of investigating Arnus Hill could not be helped. However, he had expected the Princess to lead the whole order of knights, so that his servants would have to wait on him hand and foot throughout the journey.

However, that willful girl issued orders to station her main forces far behind, only taking a few people to perform reconnaissance. They even hid their identities, intentionally dirtying their clothes, eating the crude black bread and murky wine of common peasants, which he considered unfit for a knight like himself.

Norma raised his hand to signal the waitress for a refill. Seeing how his kouhai did not recognize how bad the situation was for them, he sighed a little.

After he got his refill, Norma shrugged under the innocent gaze of Hamilton who was waiting for his reply.

"If there are that many refugees who said the same thing, then it probably isn't a rumor. It's not likely that so many people would come together to tell such a lie. Still, it's very hard for me to believe that it was a Flame Dragon."

"I think that if that many people are saying the same thing, then it wouldn't hurt to believe them."

The waitress's mood immediately changed. She smiled cutely while saying, "Thank you, young Knight-sama". Although her attire made her look old, she might be younger than she looked.

"After receiving so much, I'll tell you what I kept from the others."

Saying that, the waitress started her story:

When the news of the Flame Dragon's appearance started to spread, Coda Village became as busy as a beehive. The blacksmith's wife next door had come over to tell Melissa about the news. It was noon and she was drying her clothes.

"Melissa! Melissa! Bad news!"

They often gossiped about the happenings in the small village and had become quite close. Even if there was no one in the house, she knew where Melissa would be as she went around back to where she dried her clothes to look for Melissa.

Melissa told her son who was taking in the dry clothes to inform her husband who was out in the fields, and then she ran into her home to start packing.

After a short while, her husband came back panting and shouting, "Is everything okay?!?!" Apparently, the way their son had described it made him think that the Flame Dragon had already attacked the village.

Seeing that his wife was safe and sound, the husband sat down on the floor in relief. Although she was safe, the real danger was still lurking around the corner. After explaining the situation to her husband, Melissa returned to packing their luggage.

After loading their food, water, some basic daily necessities, a few changes of clothes and their hard-earned savings onto their wagon which was used for farming, it was buckling under the weight of all their luggage.

They used a mule to pull the cart while her son and husband pushed it from behind, and then they started down the road towards the village. When they reached the center of the village, there were already many other villagers also in their wagons crowding the road.

Many wagons had broken down due to their heavy loads, blocking the street.

After wasting precious time waiting for the wagons to be cleared up, they were finally out of the village. By then, the sun was already beginning to set.

Sometimes a wagon's wheels would get stuck in the muddy ground and it would become immobile. Angry shouts of "Get out of the way!" and desperate cries of "Come help!" intertwined with each other, amplifying the frustrations of everyone present.

Scenes of people quarrelling, wagons overturned, luggage scattered all over, children crying loudly and women with obvious looks of despair on their faces could be seen everywhere.

But, in their time of need, their saviors came to their aid.

"They were the strange men in gary. There were twelve of them, one of them in particular seems to be a foreign noble as he was wearing a fancy blue coat and the sword he carries on his hip is incredibly ornate"

The waitress's voice not only could be heard by the Knights, but also by the other patrons. Unconsciously, the tavern had gone silent as Melissa described the exodus of the village as well as the presence of the noble among the people in gray. No one in the tavern knew anything about them.

"What do the young foreign noble look like?"

Norma's question made Melissa quirk her brow as she seems to be thinking of the rumors she has heard. The rumor in question is... Let's just say the bonds between two men comrade in each other's arms can be quite strong.

Thinking about it gave rise to a strange feeling with in the waitresses heart but try as she might, she can't seem to identify the emotion she is feeling... Excitement perhaps?

Anyways Melissa recalled every single detail about him and began telling a colorful picture.

"The young noble has a delicate handsome face not to dissimilar to an elf's. His hair color was as black as a raven's feather, coupled with eyes the seems like gemstone as blue as the sky. He has a wonderful generous personality, on the journey when seeing the suffering child he offered them to sit in his carriage..." She goes on for a bit.

"so he's simply the living embodiment of nobility" by the time she has finished she had a dreamy look on her face.

Meanwhile the men in the room all snorted

"Woman..."

"its just a sissy"

She continues the story.

"Hmm. It was like that. Many things happened, but we still managed to move on. But that beast finally caught up with us."

There was not enough water for the villagers and they didn't have enough food to satiate them. Still, they did their best to endure in order to take another step forward, but they were nearing their limit.

Yet, they continued their difficult journey even as their supplies rapidly dwindled to nothing.

Yet, they continued their difficult journey even as their supplies rapidly dwindled to nothing.

Alas, they finally reached their limit.

Those who could still move continued on, while those who couldn't sat down in fatigue.

The noble's strange carriage which didn't need any horses to move carried the children who couldn't move anymore. Still, it could not take all of them .

"I couldn't move anymore. Still, I wished for my son to live on. I prayed hard to God, but nothing happened. Those priests said that God exists, but why didn't God help us when we were in such dire straits? I won't do an idiotic thing like praying to God next time."

The bright sky above them suddenly turned dark. Expecting to see rain clouds, the villagers raised their heads and froze in place.

"It was a red Dragon. It had arms and legs, and it spread its wings like a bat. It was those large wings that covered the sky."

The dragon landed. In an instant, Moyer and her husband disappeared before Melissa's eyes.

Only the lower halves of their bodies were left.

Before the people even understood the situation, their natural instinct took over as each of them ran. Carrying their children, they abandoned their luggage as they tried to get away from the monster.

The wagons overturned, crushing many villagers under them.

While everyone was escaping, the Flame Dragon spewed fire all around it. After thoroughly roasting the humans, it swallowed them whole.

They scampered around like baby spiders as they tried to escape. Like a child destroying an ant's nest, the Flame Dragon squashed the escaping villagers under its foot and ate them.

Despair filled the villagers' hearts.

"In that instant, the graymen appeared."

Melissa said with a tone of admiration.

"They rode on their strange breed of horses, which were faster than our horses. On the horseback, the Men in Green raised their magic staffs and attacked the Flame Dragon with spells.

However, the dragon remained unscathed. Even their magic was unable to pierce the dragon scales. But, they didn't give up.

They circled around the dragon repeatedly and kept attacking to buy time for the villagers to escape.

Thanks to them, many of the the villagers survived.

The Flame Dragon turned around to attack the graymen. But, the beast could not catch up with their frightening speed. By moving around, they kept themselves safe from the scorching flames of the dragon.

But soon, the dragon got used to their tactics. The people in green who could only cast magic from afar were at a disadvantage.

"At that moment, the leader of the people in green shouted something and they took out that thing."

"What thing?"

"A giant magic staff. We call it the Divine Rod of Steel. There was a loud bang and the Flame Dragon's whole left arm was blown off."

It was that moment when the so-called invincible Flame Dragon was defeated.

After getting injured, the dragon let out an earth-shaking roar and rapidly flew off.

After finishing the story, the people present were silenced by the magnanimity of her tale.

"Divine...Divine Rod of Steel?"

Such an exaggerated name awed them into shocked silence.

After a moment of quiet contemplation, the Knights began discussing their thoughts on this. The tavern also returned to its rowdy atmosphere.

"In-In a nutshell, they were very powerful. Although it looked to be like a foreign noble is leading a band of mercenary seeking adventure, they had such amazing skills. I think we should recruit them. What do you think, Your Highness?"

The vermillion-haired female knight who was about to eat the Ma Nuga meat in her hands was asked a question. She then put the meat back onto her plate on the table to reply to the knight.

Ma Nuga meat was made by wrapping the a long bone from livestock with smoked meat.

Stretching her hands towards her wine cup, Piña Co Lada replied, "I'm quite interested in the weapons used by those people who repelled the dragon."

Senator Godasen had said it before. "The enemy infantry's weapon made a sound of 'Bang! Bang! Bang!' A moment later, our troops had fallen."

Based on these words, it seemed to fit the bill with the Coda villagers' descriptions. The Coalition Army's defeat at Arnus hill must be related to that magic weapon.

Piña called the waitress to ask her a question.

"Woman, you have seen the weapons of those people. What do they look like?"

Melissa tilted her head as she told her what she had seen.

Although being addressed as 'woman' made her unhappy, because of the presence of the young female knight who gave her tips, she decided to tell her the truth.

"In other words, those people used staffs that looked like steel. They made an exploding sound, as well as spitting fire?"

"In my opinion, it is a magic weapon."

"Then, the staff they used to repel the Slither Wyrm…….it's called the Divine Rod of Steel, right? What does it look like? Try with the best of your abilities to describe it."

"Didn't I say that it was a Flame Dragon, not a Slither Wyrm?" the waitress insisted. With a wicked smile, she glanced at the men around her.

"You're being rhetorical. The Divine Rod is good stuff…...Well, I can't blame you, seeing that you were born in an overprotective environment. But, why don't you ask the girls who have husbands? It's the same as a man's thing. Of course, it's so large that you can hug it. I don't think any man here has a thing that's as big or as black as it..."

The waitress laughed crudely as she went to the other table to take orders.

Confused, Piña looked to the male knights for an explanation.

As if on cue, all of them averted their faces from Piña's gaze.

She finally set her sights on Hamilton.

"You...you have a fiancee, right?"

She must have thought that she was safe from the line of fire.

The prim and proper Knight, Hamilton Uno Ro, who was drinking soup, sprayed it out in surprise. Her messy short hair shook with her head as she protested, "I-I do…...but I am still a maiden! How would I know about such a things... ah."

The men's eyes landed on Hamilton. "Hmm, that kind of thing, eh?"

Piña's suspicious gaze pierced her.

Hamilton could only blush furiously as she cowered down in her seat.


	10. Chapter 9

After the dragon attack needless to say a few people are naturally killed, as the children were in side the chimera safe under centimeters of adamantium only adults were killed or injured.

With their parents gone the children are now basically orphans William being generous noblemen that he is naturally offered to take those children in.

'yes yess yesss. These children will be my first batch of loyal followers on this world.' William thought wickedly as he puts on a gentle smile on his face.

In the future William plans to put those he trust in place of power, naturally it's best to have someone who's native on this world to rule it as in the long history of the Imperium proves that the residents of a planet would like cause less of a fuss if you put one of them in charge, then having some outsider comes in and takes high office.

Following an armed group of unknown affiliation was just as risky as jumping into a ravine for the people of this world. They might as well have been stripped naked and sold into slavery. However, they had no choice. They were children who had lost their parents when the Flame Dragon attacked, or elderly people who had lost their children, and some were even wounded. Under normal circumstances, the outcome for them would be a long and slow death anyway.

William extended his offer to a few of the elderly, after all in a feudal world elders holds valuable knowledge and wisdom, William hope get intelligence from a more competitive source as William doesn't put much trust from the words of capture enemies.

Of course, some of them were different. For instance, there was the "Magician" Kato and his pupil, who were very interested in the PDF, as well as the priestess of Emroy.

'Magician' William thought as he is quite interested in these so called 'magicians' as despite the prevalence of 'magic' on this world, this world seems quite stable and lack the chaotic depravities one would usually see on chaos infested worlds.

Now in Imperial space a world filled with magic users once discovered would be immediately subjected exterminatus or then at the very least if it's lucky the decimation of the world's entire population. Forget about confirming if it's really warp magic they're using the motto of the imperium is "innocence proves nothing" as its better to be safe then sorry.

But since they're beyond Imperial territory his actions would have some leeway. William... No not just William but the Lancelot family at large would obviously not want such a verdant green world to turn into a lifeless death world.

So it's better to investigate it properly and hope it's not really warpcraft they're using.

Another thing apparently the little girl he picked up on the road is a priestess of some sort.

William naturally is a firm believer of the emeper.

As much as he wants to forcefully convert this world into believing the God Emperor, he knows that he lacks the manpower for such a feat so he would have to do it slowly and subtly.

Not to mention the most important thing to a rogue trader is profit and it is not uncommon for rogue traders to what would be considered heretical in imperial space.

As long as they pay their tithes or fall into true heresy then they're pretty much free to do as they pleased, naturally it does not need say that it's beast to not flaunt that they're treading on the gray zone. Like flaunting they have a demonic weapon for example, such actions would be equivalent to painting bullseye on your back for Officio Assassinorum, chaos warbands or rivals who are looking of an excuse to declare war on you.

Once he got back bring the refugees along with him.

Suffice to say Frederick was not a bit pleased when he heard that he was put into danger and nagged him endlessly.

After an hour long lecture.

William finally heads back and arranged the lodgings of his new subjects.

Naturally they had to earn their keep so William gave them a few simple chores around the camp, which they agree as they too know that there's no free lunch in the world and they simply can't impose anymore on William's kindness . They already owe him a lot when he informed them of the flame dragon, help them evacuate and even taking them in.

For now William arranged them to live in the barracks as their lodging is being built.

The next day

Once they received the order William's men began the construction project which didn't take all that long.

In the blink of an eye, they cleared out a stretch of trees, and after moving the ground with heavy equipment, they easily built a set of roofed houses.

Lelei could only watch this scene with her mouth open and her tongue tied.

"...Well, looks like we can unload our luggage at last. I need my sleep."

Having resigned himself with these words, he vanished back into his tent. After watching her Master, Lelei could not help but agree with him.

Their carriages were not drawn by horses, but they ran faster than horses.

Their magic staffs could force back a Flame Dragon.

Their sturdy, vast fortress at Arnus Hill.

Their gigantic iron dragonflies soared through the sky while making terrible noises.

The way they could instantly turn huge trees into planks, where even a team of woodsmen would take half a day just to fell a single tree.

(Fun fact: most of the the time used on is mostly the preparations before cutting the tree as anyone who saw one of those sawing competitions, a skill lumberjack could cut a dawn a tree as fast as a chainsaw)

Their carriages with giant shovels (chimera with dozer blades on) that could do the work of a hundred men in a flash

And then, there was the way they built houses in moments.

In truth, she was growing jaded to these surprises.

The children and elderly who knew nothing had been shocked into silence. They gave thanks in earnest and sincerely accepted these benefits. As for Lelei, who was wiser but still could not make sense of these unreal circumstances, her brain had long since overheated.

"...Papa will be disappointed that he missed seeing something like this. I have to tell him later…"

The Elf girl's body had recovered quickly, and she was dressed in the clothes that the people here had given her, which were a fancy looking dress, it's made with a sturdy yet soft material. She watched the proceedings silently.

Lelei was envious.

She couldn't bear to watch any more. All she wanted to do was curl up under her blankets. Well, she had already forgotten that she was supposed to be a guardian of the forest, and watched in mute surprise.

However, since she had chosen the path of the sage, she could not leave these difficult-to-explain circumstances as they were. After all, a sage's ambition was to conquer the mysteries of the world with wisdom.

After properly motivating herself, she set forth.

As she got close to the moving iron-skinned carriages, the workers there looked at her with a mix of surprise and fear. They seemed to be shouting something along the lines of "it's dangerous". If she were run over by such a large vehicle, she would probably be squashed into paste. Because of that, they were probably trying to keep her away. (Not to mention if anything happens to them, they'll have to answer to their lord)

Just then, a vehicle puffing plumes of smoke rolled up from the corner of the construction site. Lelei proceeded to study its structure carefully.

She understood with a single glance.

That being said, a "mobile kitchen" was a great idea. Its advantages were obvious for the military, but even trading convoys that travelled long distances would appreciate it. After all, it took a lot of effort to set up cooking fires.

Of course cooked meals were reserved for the officers, administrators and other important people alike.

Fortunately for the refugees as they're included in the list of important people saving them the trouble of eating recycled human waste material.

She thought about what the man had said to her with a smile as she stood in front of it.

"Please wait a while, we'll be done soon." That man said low gothic

Unfortunately Lelei could not understand what the cook said.

Lelei could tell that they were trying to learn the local language. They repeated their words, and were eagerly trying to talk to her. While the results were not very obvious, at the very least, they could communicate. However, if Lelei waited until they learned how to speak the local language, she would not be able to learn anything. She wanted to know about the tools and technology they used, as well as what they thought about. To do that, she would have to learn their language. Thus, Lelei steeled herself, and began speaking to the man.

The cook smiled to one of the feudals their lord recruited recently as he showed off his knife skills, which he was proud of.

The girl pointed at the small pile of ingredients.

"Hm?"

"Uma-seu seru?"

She was pointing to the body of a strange creature and saying something. She repeated the same word, and with some annoyance, The cook said, "It's a Grox, Grox ." But after he said that he thought, 'Crap, I have to be nice to her.' As she obviously belongs to the special people close to the lord.

"Gu Rocks?"

"Yes Grox"

The cook picked up a cut limb of the grox.

"Grox" He said as man smiled. While he nodded, he showed her how he could skill fully and quickly dismember the Grox into nice chucks of meat. As she watched his exciting knife skills, Lelei wondered if all men in their world were master chefs.

With that, the sage Lelei La Lelena, though burdened by some misconceptions, threw herself into the study of low gothic.

Awhile later

William called in a priest to begin teaching them the ways of the imperial cult.

The children seems to be quite fascinated about imperial history as the stories they're hearing is the first time they're hearing and the stuff in it is just simply fantastical!

God Emperer of mankind, simply mentioning the name itself brings great awe and wonder.

Rory seems to want to know more about this God Emperor fellow that William and his men believes in.

Holy Terra the birth place of mankind, simply mind-boggling for these children as they never even considered that there might be other realms out there inhabited by other people.

What is shocking to them is that the Imperium the place which William comes from has domains in over a million realms that is simply a mind boggling number! the people hearing it for the first time are doubting if it's an exaggeration.

(author's note: as some of you might have noticed I used the word realm instead of world as the word realm pretty much means the same as world but it's more medieval friendly. This note is simply here for me to point how deep I thought of this and make me feel good about myself)

Naturally the priest can't didn't go to the details only the general overview on things as the extensive history of the imperium can't be told in just an hour or two.

Even so the stuff the feudals heard is simply beyond any legends or myths they have heard.

The emperor? The great crusade? Reuniting humanities lost realms? This stuff is way more epic than all of the myths and legends they have heard combined!

Seeing the shining eyes of the children when the priest tells them the founding of the imperium made William smiles as it seems that converting the local populace wouldn't be much of a problem.


	11. Chapter 10

A reply to last admiral

The thing about exterminatus is that it is when the threat is too great, having a significant of the population that dabbles in sorcery would have rang a few alarm bells. Now if you throw in necromancy and "demon" possession (apparently the gods can take possession of any mortal follower they have and those mortal follower are more then willing to let said God take possession of them even if it means getting their mind wipe)... Now all of a sudden exterminatus doesn't sound all that bad.

Of course the decision to use exterminatus lays on the inquisitor in question as it varies from person to person as each has their own agenda.

Not to mention the Inquisition itself has a tendency of infighting as one faction might want to pacify as planet while the other would counter that by wanting to destroy the planet.

That's why I said that it ranges from exterminatus to decimation of the planets population. Whatever the punishment maybe it won't be pretty to the inhabitants of the planet.

-story start-

The three waves of attacks by the Coalition Army could not really be considered a battle. A better example would be a horde of lemmings ignoring a cliff before them and committing mass suicide. And of course, the biggest reason for this was because the Empire did not provide any intelligence about the enemy.

At that time, the flags of over 21 nations were raised in the camps of the Coalition Army, and their forces numbered over 100,000. Hailing from all over the continent, the sight of soldiers from various nations gathering in one place was awe inspiring.

There were light cavalry on bare-bodied horses.

There were heavy cavalry, sheathed in thick layers of armor.

There were dragon-riders, mounted on Wyverns that soared through the sky.

There were battle mammoth units, which shook the earth with every step they took.

There were small-bodied soldiers who looked extraordinarily tough from the southern nations.

There were heavy infantry, who bore large, rectangular tower shields.

There were spearmen, whose points formed a forest of steel.

And then there were crossbowmen, catapults, ballistae, and others gathered together.

Though Goblins (fortunately they're called Gretchens in 40k as it makes thing less confusing) and Ogres were treated like beasts of war in the Imperial Army, some of the other nations let them wear armor.

Because they came from different lands, they competed through the splendor of their uniforms.

This time, their combined battle strength was equal to that of an army three times their actual number, and their advance darkened the sky and shook the earth for days. Everyone felt that this battle was a foregone conclusion.

Originally, Arnus Hill was designated as a sacred place, but in truth it had been little more than a slightly slanted hillock.

There were no trees to block one's field of vision and no large rivers to block routes of advance, nor were there precipitous cliffs. It was simply a little bump in the earth in the middle of a large expanse of open space.

They had been told that the top of the hill had been taken by the enemy, but they had not received any information about the local terrain at all. According to the Imperial troops in the area, the invaders from another world seemed to be doing strange things like digging holes and ditches, as well as surrounding themselves with a strange curled fence of little needles.

If they could build underground fortresses like Dwarves, it might have been troublesome, but Humans could only do that very slowly. It would be impossible to complete it within a month or so.

That being the case, the victors would be the ones with superior numbers.

King Duran of the Elbe Kingdom combed his white-streaked hair back and tried to guess at what Emperor Molt Sol Augustus was thinking when he had gathered this many troops from the Coalition to do battle with so few invaders.

Enemies of that number should have been easily taken care of with the Empire's own military power. There should have been no need to gather the armies of the Coalition.

Therefore, gathering the Coalition Army was not a military move, but a political one.

For instance, did he intend to demonstrate his own might before the Coalition Army? However, if that was the case, he would only need to summon the kings before him instead. Such great fighting power would not be needed. There must be some reason why he wanted to assemble over 100,000 men. After all, feeding so many men was not a trivial matter.

Perhaps he intended to use this huge force to attack some country, but since the Coalition Army had been raised with the intention of protecting the continent, there was no justification for using it as an army of conquest.

"Then, Your Excellency, how shall we proceed with the attack?"

Normally, Archduke League's words would have been worth considering in meetings with the other military leaders. However, all of them were thinking, "Mere tactics are useless when we possess such military might. In the end, we will crush them like a strong hand crushing an egg". As such, they did not give it much thought.

In truth, he had summoned Archduke League more to mock his paranoia than for a discussion.

"Your Excellency, you should seriously think about it yourself."

"You may say that, but if it's just our troops moving out, we still need to consider formations and tactics. Still, the enemy looks to number 20,000 at most. In comparison, we have a 5 to 1 advantage in numbers and the fighting power of 300,000 men, so wouldn't a mass attack end the battle without any effort? As for the enemy condition, we can probably figure it out once we make contact with them."

"It is as you say."

"You're surprisingly sensitive for a man of your age."

Duran did not hear League's mockery as he was lost in thought.

Later in a ward

A certain king is recalling the events that has transpired.

The movement of a large army would need time. One reason was because the roads were not flat, even, or even present, but the main reason was the sheer scale of the movement. After all, it took almost half a day to travel from the head of the formation to the rear.

Setting up camp would also take a lot of time, about 10 to 20 days.

Even so, the Coalition Army that reached Arnus Hill, encircled the hill in accordance to their prior arrangements, and began forming their battle lines while keeping a safe distance from the enemy.

That distance would be determined by individual experience. That was to say, they had to consider the ranges and minimum safe distances for archers, ballistae, catapults and so on.

That is to say the enemy were not expecting what in their standards is extreme range imperial weapons.

As a result, the four thousand men of the Arguna Kingdom, the vanguard element of the Army, were now in great danger.

The Imperial troops that should have been stationed at the nearby hills had vanished without a trace; could it be that they had already been defeated? If that was the case, they had to rescue the survivors. The Arguna King had this in mind when he ordered his men to advance.

The Kingdom of Arguna was a small country with no special features. Its economy revolved around agriculture and animal husbandry. Because they had no special features, they lacked appeal, but they might have been counting on that to avoid being swallowed up by the Empire and the surrounding countries. Because of that, their troops were made of Ogres and Goblins with bows and battleaxes, followed by their mainstay troops, the heavy infantry and bowmen, with sorcerers as a final battle line.

This was their typical battle plan.

Their scattered bowmen would fire, and then the mighty Ogres and Goblins would slash into the enemy formation to throw them into confusion.

Next, the heavy infantry would advance in a densely-packed formation, their square shields formed into a mobile shield wall, marching in lockstep until they entered the fray.

If they had enough sorcerers remaining, they would launch a magical attack in concert.

Finally, the troops would open up and the cavalry would charge in to secure victory.

This was their usual tactic.

That was why they did not understand what had happened to them.

What hit them was a massed artillery barrage from the PDF artillery batteries.

They showered the enemy with shells, which simultaneously detonated over a huge front.

That was why the Coalition Army said "They were blown away in a moment."

The victims were troops from the Kingdom of Arguna, who served as the vanguard, as well as the men of the Modwan Kingdom, and total losses were estimated at 10,000 men.

Their fire was intended to utterly destroy the enemy who had entered their kill zone. Therefore, they brought overwhelming firepower upon their foe. After that first volley, the attack was concluded.

"I stood in formation, and thought for a moment that Arnus Hill had erupted. Princess, have you ever seen a mountain erupt? In my youth, I once saw a volcano erupt in the mountains. It was as though the entire mountain had exploded. There was no sign of it beforehand, like earthquakes, and then I heard the air tearing apart, followed by an unimaginably vast explosion. My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth, and that was but one of several occurrences.

As for what had happened... we halted to make sure of the circumstances, but all we saw before us was thick, black smoke.

Soon the smoke dispersed, and it was as if someone had driven a giant plough across the ground. In the earth that was dredged up we saw the bodies of the Arguna and Modwan armies, mashed into the ground like rice grains in a paella dish..."

Duran closed his eyes and shuddered as he recalled that scene.

Besides him was a nun, who was trying to feed him some seafood paella. But he did not eat it, instead turning his face away.

"And what of the two kings?"

Duran shook his head when he heard Piña's question.

"How shall I put this…?"

Piña had searched through the villages near Arnus in the hope of finding the Coalition Army after the battle had started. The conclusion she had reached was that the Coalition Army had retreated back after losing their commander.

Though it was called a retreat, it was more like the shredded remnants of the Army who were limping home, given that none of the soldiers or officers had escaped intact. They were lucky that the enemy had not pursued them, which was how they survived. In this condition, the arduous trek home would probably be even more agonizing than battle itself. In truth, the bodies of troops who had fallen out had already been buried by villagers throughout the land.

Before long, Piña heard that a nunnery in service of the god Hoboro had taken in a man of high birth. When they rushed to the place, they found that it was King Duran of the Elbe Kingdom.

He was over sixty years old, and perhaps because of stress or some other reason, all his hair was now white.

His body could not endure a long journey on foot, and the troops who had been fortunate enough to survive had long since escaped. He ordered his few remaining troops who were still faithful to return to the country and spread word of this danger, while he himself recovered his strength in this nunnery. However, this was just a nunnery, after all, and there were no doctors and the food was poor in quality. His strength came back slowly, but bit by bit, it also drained away.

The smell of rot from the stump of his missing leg was beginning to fill the air.

His face was pale, and his blood was not circulating properly, and he had Battle's signs under his eyes. If he stayed in this state, he did not look like he would live long.

"I was in the third wave. This is what I have become. I advanced with the Mocha army into the hillside, but iron thorns blocked our way. By the time we cleared the obstacles and resumed the advance, light fell like rain upon us, and right after that I was blown away in an instant."

"King Duran, I will notify the Empire immediately, and have them ready a physician and a carriage. We'll talk about this after you regain your strength."

Although she was the princess, in terms of the peerage, Duran was superior to her by virtue of being a king. Piña fell to one knee, took Duran's intact right hand, and bowed.

But Duran shook his head.

"I'm sorry to reject the Princess' kindness, but I do not wish to trouble the Empire. Besides, I am not long for this world."

"Why is that?"

"I have been thinking about why the Emperor would summon the Coalition Army to fight this war… after becoming like this, I understood. The Emperor knew this would happen. I think he was angry that we remained intact while his troops were beaten. In other words, the Emperor wanted to have the enemy destroy us for him."

Duran did not use honorifics to dignify the Emperor, which showed his anger. Since he was about to die, he figured he might as well speak his mind.

"Princess, do not say you did not know this. Place yourself in the position of the Empire. You can probably imagine what happened when the Imperial Army clashed with the enemy..."

"Yes. The Imperial Army was beaten, that much I knew. But I did not know what sort of enemy was waiting for us there, nor that the Coalition Army we sent there would end up like this…"

"Please go, Princess. I do not wish someone armoured in lies and wielding a sword of deception to stand before me. The Coalition Army would have fought to the bitter end to protect this continent. However, our greatest enemy was actually behind us. The Empire is our enemy. I say again, Princess, please go."

"Your Majesty. It is too late to ask you to quell your anger, but could you at least tell me what the enemy is like? What magic do they use, what tactics? Please tell me about your tactics as well."

"I will not speak of them. We made great sacrifices to learn that much. If the Princess wishes to find out, then please proceed to Arnus Hill by yourself. Perhaps the enemy will tell you for the price of your men."

Piña had tried her best. The Emperor had underestimated their opponents. He thought that he could make up the difference in fighting power with strategy and schemes. However, Piña felt that the enemy and the Empire were on completely different levels. She had the feeling that if the Empire did not understand the enemy's power, it would be completely destroyed.

As those thoughts ground in her head, the Imperial Princess stared straight at him.

"That will not do. You must tell me everything you know. If not, I will take the Kingdom of Elbe hostage. If your Majesty does not speak, I will lead troops to Elbe and burn it to ash."

That got Duran's attention.

"What, what is this!? First you took my soldiers, then my servants, even my life, and now you want my kingdom and family as well… like father, like daughter… Very well, do as you please. Besides, once I die, it is only a matter of time before my country will be swallowed up by the Empire. I can hear Death approaching, so all this no longer matters to me. I will rejoin my family in death, and then we will mock the Emperor and you when you follow us."

"You've completely lost hope at the brink of death… But the Empire will not lose."

Piña stood, looking down at the dying king.

"Anything is permitted, as long as one is powerful. That is what you believe in. However, we have our conviction and our pride. When we are invaded, we will naturally return the favor. The enemies at Arnus are a mighty army, with weapons of godlike power and tactics of divine potency. They crushed us like squalling babes. The Empire that brought them here will share the same fate as us. 'Anything is permitted, as long as one is powerful', you say? But the enemies at Arnus are stronger than you. The Imperial Army is in grave danger. When you find out and beg for help, nobody will answer. You have sown the wind, and you will reap the whirlwind!"

After Duran shouted these words, he collapsed, gasping on his sickbed.

Piña had no words to say.

Even with power and strength, it was difficult to conquer a heart. It wasn't as though she couldn't do it, but if she had, the king would be dead.

Since there was no more to be gained from the King, she had to give up on him.

Duran's angry cries echoed in her heart, as well as his hatred of the Empire that betrayed him.

"Your Highness, please do not order the knights to attack Arnus Hill."

Piña sighed as she heard the words that hit her right after she left Duran's room.

"Hamilton, how stupid do you think I am?"

"I would not dare. But Your Highness is radiating an air that says 'We ride at once!'"

If they set out, their objective would not be Arnus Hill, but the Capital. Piña thought this, but did not say it.

Her eyes roved over Hamilton, who resembled a very handsome prince at a glance. As if to confirm her gender, Piña gently patted Hamilton's flat chest. Well, it was soft and bouncy.

Piña wondered what the hell she was doing. She could hardly believe she was goofing off at a time like this… Or rather, maybe she was so wound up that she needed to blow off steam.

"Forget it, whether or not we attack, we still need to go to Arnus Hill. We need to see the enemy with our own eyes.

"Ah~ Princess, with just this many people? Won't it be too dangerous?"

"Indeed, it'll be dangerous, but you'll protect me, right?"

With that, Piña left the nunnery.

Back in Alnus

William is in his study reading up on report from other recon teams and assess the situation and plans for future action.

At this time the was a knocking on the door

Noc Noc

William got up from his seat and opens the door to see who it was, the person knocking on door is soon revealed to the the medic.

"What's the matter?" William asked

"It's about Tuka." The medic was talking about one of the refugees under the care of the third recon platoon, the Elf with blond hair and blue eyes, Tuka Luna Marceau.

"What about her?"

"Actually…"

According to the medic , 'She is weird'.

Specifically, she would ask for two sets of meals when eating. The medic hadn't thought much about it, thinking she just want to eat more, but it wasn't so.

"Maybe she wants more to eat? "

"No. She asked for two sets of meals. Not double the amount of food, but two sets, including utensils."

The medic said as he flipped through her logs.

"Hmm? So?" William asked not getting what the medic is trying to say

"One set would be left alone. As for clothes, the extra set she asked for are for men."

"Hmm... Well then, did you ask why?"

"We couldn't communicate well with them, so we are not sure. But, we did ask Lelei-chan, who has the best grasp of our language about why she left the food behind."

"And then?"

"She answered that she didn't know, and that no one else was there during Tuka's meals."

"Do you have any ideas why she's doing this?"

"Sir if I may so bold I think that she is treating her dead father as though he was still alive. But it was impossible for us to judge whether that is normal or abnormal for her kind."

"How about asking Lelei's teacher... Kato was it? That old man would probably know more."

"We did, but his views were about the same as ours. According to the old man, she was of a rare race even amongst the Elves. His answers were 'rarely seen' and 'unsure'."

The phrases they knew right now were limited, so it was hard to understand complicated sentences.

'Couldn't understand', 'Insufficient information' and 'Inconclusive'... All these terms were simply translated as 'Don't know'. They would need to spend more time conversing with each other to differentiate these terms.

"The only thing we can do is talk to her, right? I'm not sure whether or not she is treating someone who isn't there as if he is alive, but we should do what we can to cure her." William obviously doesn't want a mentally damaged servant.

"I think so too. To be honest, it's difficult to tell what's wrong and without knowing that, I can't help her more."

"On another hand the children started learning Low gothic recently, I think we will understand each other's language fairly soon." The medic then switched topic as to report on the childrens.

William the heads out to see how's the refugees are doing.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at their new settlement.

There were twenty-five people in the refugee camp right now. Twenty-three of them from Koda village, one from an Elven village, and the child priestess who joined mid-way through their journey here.

The housing itself was nothing special as it's just one of those cheap prefabricated stuff that can be assembled on site, naturally considering that it might one day grow into a hive city, so it's quite sturdy and would last for a long time.

Anyway the girl Lelei, was learning to communicate really fast, interestingly she said that out of the nineteen so called kids, the child priestess, the Elven girl and Lelei herself weren't children. So the number of children was actually sixteen.

This caused William to quirk his brow as he asked "how old are they?" The "Child" priestess probably wouldn't answer. According to Lelei, she was 'Not a child, but much, much, much older'. When questioned about the exact figure, the expressionless Lelei frowned and shook her head, unwilling to answer.

By the way, Lelei herself was fifteen. In this world she was considered an adult.

Elves are said to have long lifespans. Tuka said she was 165 years old.

Anyway as he was inspecting the place the old man Kato-sensei said that the claws and scales of Wyverns could be crafted into tough defensive equipment. Hence, they were valuable items.

Since the entire hill is filled with their corpse... then he would be quite rich!

Thus ordered the children to harvest them from the decaying carcasses, washed away the rotting meat and blood and dried them.

Since he can't speak the local language fluently he decided to bring along the helpful little girl Lelei, he brought along Tuka as she's now part of his "rogue trader party"

This was the first time Lelei and Tuka would be going to town to sell these items.

Talking about selling wyvern scales Willliam suddenly had another idea as on the battlefield there's more things than dead wyvern!

William slaps himself mentally as how could he make such a nubie mistake as to forget to loot the corpse of fallen enemies! Looting things from your fallen foe should be the basic for a rogue trader!

William then gathered up the children and gave them the task to looting the battlefield as he strongly suspect that if he gave the task to the PDF they might "mishandle a jewelry or two".

'Children are more honest and are less greedy' William thought as he recalls the "rats" the cook is always talking about.

Yes, an entire Grox carcass going missing a every month and not so much as leaving a single bone.

"Those are some mighty "rats" as they didn't even left a bone" William commented at that time.

Right around that time he would see a few of the people guarding the food storage going around with full belly and have bits of meat still hanging on their teeth.

Anyway Dragon scales could be divided into several categories, the market value would be dependent on the type and condition of the scales.

The highest level would be the scale of dragons, one piece in perfect condition was worth ten Suwani gold coins. Armour made from the red scales of a Flame Dragon (very difficult to craft) would be a legendary treasure, enough money to buy an entire nation. If it really existed.

The next grade would be newborn dragon scales. However, these two types of scales were basically impossible to find in the market. As mentioned earlier, it was impossible for man to hunt dragons. The only way to obtain them was from the skin shed by dragons or newborn dragons during molting. In reality, armour made from dragon scales had made appearances in some tales of heroes and legends, and the item itself was worshipped inside the temple of the god of war.

As for wyverns, nations with wyvern riders had a steady supply of them, so these smaller scales were cheaper. One scale was between thirty to seventy Silver Denari.

If you don't splurge, one Silver Denari could feed a person for five days. So if they sell all two hundred scales, Lelei's group would be rich.

But, they needed a suitable buyer for them.

To trade them for cash safely, Lelei hoped to sell them to a large store. However, she was worried about whether a large store owner would negotiate with a little girl… If a small store couldn't pay that much money, she would have to let them pay at a later date. Even though Lelei was a sage, she wouldn't know about receipts and account transfers.

Fortunately, her master Kato had an acquaintance who was a merchant, they could go there even though it was a bit far. The PDF would be going with them anyway... And so, Lelei's gaze fell on william's group.

"Hmm? What is the matter?"

After locking eyes with William and being asked that, Lelei kept her usual poker face and stated the phrase which meant 'nothing'.

"Well then, where is the shop of this Shooto person?"

Tuka and Rory leaned over and asked. Lelei answered straight to the point.

"Italica city, west of Tipilika city, at the foot of Romalia mountain."

"Tipilika city, Romalia mountain, Italica city..."

William the picks a data pad and opened a map based on the intel gathered so far.

"I see, Appian highway, Roma river, Gurlpaz plains, Dima mountain range..."

Lelei seemed to be curious about the data pad more than that the map with in that showed the vicinity in clear detail. The maps she knew would only sketch the hills and rivers, and the map would be considered good if the positions roughly matched. Therefore, it was only natural that she was interested in such a detailed map. Lelei pointed out the places she knew on the data pad and stated their names. Another thing that caught her attention was the compass indicator at the corner of the data pad.

Lelei felt the secret of how William oriented himself and the data pad lay to where the needle is pointing.

See in the curious eye of the little girl William explained what the spinning needle is.

As they're riding in the chimera the needle would often change direction.

Meanwhile Rory and Tuka were talking about something.

They were talking relatively fast in their own language, so William and the others couldn't understand. However, they could still tell that Rory was teasing Tuka. In the end, Tuka kept quiet with puffed cheeks. Rory had a mischievous smile as she looked are William . William was wondering what she wanted to say when Tuka's face and long ears blushed red.

There was clearly something out of place.

Rory laughed heartily, enjoying how Tuka was panicking. Lelei said that Rory was 'Very, very old", but to see Tuka who was 165 years old being treated like a child was odd.

"Sir, smoke ahead, to the right."

The Driver pointed to the front right.

The exact same report was received via Vox, the riders outside as they also noticed the same thing.

William opened the hatch and popped his head out of the chimera. He observed the origin of the smoke with binoculars, but couldn't confirm anything as it was quite some distance away.

'we're heading right towards it.' William thought as he thought of the possibility of canceling the mission.

William called in Lelei and handed the binoculars to her asking for her opinion.

Lelei held it backwards, but changed it after realizing her mistake immediately.

"That is smoke." Lelei replied in low Gothic.

"The reason for the smoke?"

The smart Lelei understood William 's question immediately.

"Farmland, burn, no smoke. Season, wrong. Caused by man. Flier? But too big."

"Not 'flier', it's fire." William correct her and qwerked his brows and thought about it.

A bit later William issued out an order.

"Watch our surroundings carefully, we are approaching the city. Keep an eye on the sky."

'ha ha damn lizard this time I'm hunting you' William thought evily as he has brought several missile launchers this time around.

His men picked up the their missile launchers as they took positions around the chimera.

Tuka and Lelei helped William's men in observing the surroundings. The convoy moved off once again.

Now moving into an enemy controlled city but William had hope that he could meet the local governor and strike some sort of deal, Ideally the local governor would defect and join his side.

Not it is without saying that it has some risk meeting the enemy leader personally while he could just sent someone instead, but! William is a rogue trader and rogue traders takes risks.

Taking risks is what adventure is all about! Otherwise he would have just waited for his father to return and deal with these things.

Not to mention William is pretty confident in his ability to escape as he has displacement field artifact on.

Also he has a lasgun, William is pretty sure that even with a lasgun he could storm a feudal fortress or two.

Italica city was founded two hundred years ago by gathering the merchants in the region to construct a fortress city.

Politically speaking, this place was the cross road of the Dressia and Appian highways, and developed as a border city between the nations. But with the expansion of the Empire's borders, its political importance had declined significantly, and it was just a mid sized local market now. It doesn't have any local specialties, but the crops, livestock and handmade products such as cloth would be sent to the capital, so it served as a collection base.

Right now, this was the territory of the Empire's noble family, the clan of Count Formal.

Colt, the head of clan Formal had three daughters, Elle, Loui, and Myui. Aside from the youngest Myui, the other two had been married off to other clans. Colt was planning to find someone to marry into the clan after his youngest grew up to take over the family estate.

Myui was still single, and after Colt and his wife died because of an accident, misfortune started to befall the city.

The eldest daughter Elle and the second daughter Loui married into the Count Roen clan and the Count Missna clan respectively, so Myui had the right of succession over them. This was the law of the Empire and there were no grounds for them to dispute. However, the youngest Myui was only eleven, so whoever became her guardian... would become the de facto leader. And so, the power struggle began.

The talks between the two elder sisters started as a calm discussion and turned into ugly quarrels, pulling each others' hair in scuffles, and even went so far as involving their husbands. The soldiers of Count Roen and Count Missna fought a small scale war as a result.

But their fight did not escalate further. They had limited forces after all, and the husbands weren't blind with rage like their wives were.

The security within the territory was maintained by the vassals of Count Formal and the soldiers of Count Roen and Count Missna, so there wasn't any threat to the livelihood of the merchants and residents. The value of Italica lay with its trade, there would be nothing to gain if it was laid to waste.

And so, the situation became a stalemate.

The dispute of the sisters shifted into the courts of the capital, and Myui's guardian would soon be decided by the deliberation of the Emperor.

However, the situation worsened after the empire's campaign against the other world.

The heads of the Roen and Missna clans died in battle. Elle and Louise couldn't spare the effort to take care of the Formal territory anymore and withdrew their forces, leaving Myui with the vassals of Count Formal.

The young Myui couldn't control her vassals and the running of the territory became ineffective from neglect. There weren't many loyal vassals left, but there were plenty who had ulterior motives. Before she realized it, corruption and injustice were running rampant.

The citizens were wary and security deteriorated.

Loose bands of soldiers turned to banditry and started attacking caravans, grinding trade to a halt and stagnating the movement of resources.

Bandits and trolls formed a group together and numbered in the hundreds. Finally, Italica city itself was attacked.

Standing over the city gate, Piña loosed a few arrows at the retreating bandits and took a deep breath.

Wounded soldiers staggered around or collapsed from blood loss. Arrows were shot into the stone walls and the surrounding area was a mess. She spotted several citizens holding farm tools and sticks with a glance.

Outside the wall, the corpses of bandits and carcasses of horses were scattered all over the ground.

"Norma! Hamilton! Are you alright?"

Inside the broken gate, Norma was defending a barricade. He supported his body by putting his weight on a sword, his shoulders rising up and down as he panted. He lifted a hand to signal that he was well, but his armour was covered with arrows and signs of being hit by a sword.

His surroundings showed evidence of an intense battle, with bodies from the attacking bandits and defending soldiers everywhere.

As for Hamilton, she was already sitting on the ground.

Her legs were straightened with her palms supporting her body, barely keeping herself from keeling over. Her grip on her sword was loose.

"Anyway, hah hah, I am, hah hah, alive."

"What about me, princess? How cold!"

"Grey! Of course you will be fine, that's why I didn't ask."

"Should I be happy? Or sad?"

Grey, a man who looked about forty with a stout build, showed no hint of fatigue as he rested his sword on his shoulders.

There wasn't any blood on him. If there wasn't any blood on his sword, he had probably been hiding somewhere, which would explain why he still looked so energetic. He was the Knight Grey Co Aldo, a veteran of the battlefield who rose through the ranks.

In Piña's knight order, most of the knights were nobles. Since the knight order didn't have any real battle experience, such veterans were the real core of the unit.

The path to knighthood was narrow for soldiers. However, they would be treated like normal officers after they made it through.

Hamilton said with a complaining tone, "Princess, why are we fighting with marauders here?"

It was a bit rude, but she had to say it out loud.

"It can't be helped! I thought the army from the other world would attack Italica! Don't you all agree?"

After completing her investigation of the areas around Arnus, Piña heard some news as she was planning to infiltrate Arnus Hill.

"A large armed group appeared in Count Formal's territory, and is planning to attack Italica.'

After hearing this news, Piña thought the army from the other world had finally started their invasion. 'Are they sending out forces to suppress the surrounding territories before laying siege to the imperial capital?', she thought.

She had to take countermeasures then. For Piña, instead of meaningless reconnaissance, an elegant battle suited her better. She pulled out of Arnus, ordered her knights to head for Italica, while she and her group rushed there in advance.

No matter what kind of battle it was, not knowing the scale and battle potential of the enemy would be useless. If the enemy forces were limited, she would defend Italica and attack with a pincer attack with her knights that would arrive later.

However, she soon realized the ones attacking Italica were a marauding band. Most of the members were remnants of the former Coalition Army.

In contrast, the head of clan Formal in charge of the city's defences was just eleven.

She couldn't command in battle, and morale was at its lowest.

Piña was disheartened, but she couldn't stand idle and watch the bandits ravage the city. So she revealed her identity to the clan and forcefully took over command of the Countess' soldiers in defence of Italica.

"If we can hold for three days, my knights will be here."

To be honest, they might arrive even later than that.

But the citizens and the countess' troops believed in Piña and fought with all they had. The enemy might be the remnants of a defeated army, but they were former soldiers and proficient in attacking fortresses.

The city didn't fall, but the gate that was supposed to be solid was destroyed, granting the enemy entry. With the help of the citizens and militia fighting with their farm tools, they survived the first day, but it felt like a defeat.

They had lost too much.

The small number of troops decreased, and the courageous ones of the militia fell in battle. What remained were casualties and exhausted soldiers. Just one day was enough to plummet the morale of the soldiers and citizens to rock bottom. Piña couldn't think of anything to raise their spirits.

That was how her first battle ended.


	12. Chapter 11

Piña Co Lada was the daughter of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus and his concubine, the Countess Nell.

Emperor Molt had eight acknowledged children. She was the fifth among them, and the third among the daughters. By the way, if one included the illegitimate children, she would have about 12 to 15 siblings.

Because she was a legitimate daughter of the Emperor, Piña had a place in the imperial succession. However, she was 10th in line (the Emperor's brother was ahead of her) so hardly anyone saw her as an heir to the throne. At a suitable age, she would most likely be married off to a foreign king or an influential noble. It was not glamorous, but she would at least enjoy a comfortable life.

However, her existence was like a storm blowing through the upper crust of society, though that was more because of her personality than for political reasons. When she was young, she would often get angry over small things and play over-the-top pranks, which disturbed the people around her.

When she was 12, she settled down, and began playing "The Knight Game" with an all-noble cast.

According to popular gossip, she had been influenced after seeing a female actress in a play. There was no way of telling if that was the truth, but something had happened back then.

After claiming an old but sturdy building at the edge of the capital, she gathered several noble children and made them live as if they were part of the military, with herself as their commander. Because it was a game of soldiers played as a group, they messed up a lot and didn't have proper food or uniforms. However, even when they failed, everything seemed new, so the children had fun with it.

At first the adults were worried. But as they watched them and saw they were happy, the adults calmed down and decided to wait until they got tired of the game and came home.

In the end, the kids went home after two days, and their parents welcomed them back by asking "Did you have fun?"

Piña's talent for leadership had developed here. This was because she could see that, herself included, they were all far too weak.

She also realized that her colleagues would get tired of the game after two days, and would want to go home after three days. Therefore, she let everyone go back early, so they would continue thinking "It was fun", and then they would be more likely to play another round of "The Knight Game".

A week later, she started a second "Knight Game".

They used the same building as last time, but this time she brought cooks and servants, so the food, clothes and living conditions were far different from before. When they saw this, it reassured the parents and the children.

And just like that, this round of "The Knight Game" began in a comfortable environment.

Although it was called a game, it was still a military affair.

Therefore, when the kids came back, the parents were heard to say things like "Their words and movements are much more refined than before", "They've become sociable and made good friends", "They're stronger and more energetic", "They aren't picky about their food any more", "They're living their lives correctly". The Imperial Princess' "Knight Game" had shown a positive influence on their children. And as they played more "Knight Games", some of the noble parents even provided their own funding and encouraged their children to take part.

Piña's comrades during this time were called the first batch. The first batch made the rules, and they were the models for oaths, various rituals, and ranks for the rest of the recruits.

Training up an order of knights took about two years, and when Piña was around 14, what they called "basic training" was a period of cohabitation of around two to three months. Schooling became part of their training, and they invited several imperial scholars to conduct lessons, so as not to neglect their education. The children's' parents saw this "Knight Game" as a form of "young people's education" in the form of training for a knight order.

If this was where the "Knight Games" had ended, it would have been seen as a meaningful endeavour which would have its place in the Empire's history books. After all, it made children more independent, taught a healthy and regimented lifestyle, encouraged filial piety, treated everyone as fellow brothers and sisters (in truth, many of the children swore oaths of brotherhood or sisterhood with each other). The adults were pleased with this sort of "Knight Game".

Similar youth groups sprang up across the country, and it was around this time that these youth groups began styling themselves after knight orders as well.

However, Piña ultimately wanted to develop this into a proper military unit.

When she was fifteen, her knight group started incorporating the basics of physical training, swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship into their training, and they also brought in outside coaches, officers and NCOs from the Imperial Army.

The mood of the personnel ordered to assist in this varied. Those close to retirement were pleased, but the younger officers and NCOs were upset that they were just playing around with the Imperial Princess in a "Knight Game".

Therefore, with the mindset of "We can't keep playing games with them", they began a program of serious military education. And this was what Piña had hoped for.

The officers were hoping that the kids would be unable to take it and that they would quit, but Piña believed that everyone could endure this round of training.

In this way, the military organization of the whole thing began taking shape. Their theory and practice during their training was no less than what actual army units were learning, and the members of Piña's knight group soon became excellent soldiers and grew rapidly.

When Piña was 16, something important happened which pushed her knight group forward.

The boys graduated.

Those young noblemen who were not in the upper crust wanted to become soldiers and officers in the future. Since they had grown up in a group that valued martial valor, all of them wanted to become soldiers, and Piña could not stop them from going.

With the words, "As one of the original knight group, go and be a knight who does us proud", she bade those young men farewell.

Now, the knight group's core was largely composed of women. Because they had to learn to be good brides, the female members had to leave the knight group too. However, some stayed behind, and there were new recruits too.

Because there were more applicants this time round, the knight group grew larger.

In the next three years, when the young men from the knight group began excelling as junior officers, their achievements drew the attention of the high-ranking officers.

When the knight group graduated... when the roses bloomed... commanders from various armies came looking for future subordinates. However, their eyes were on the male graduates, since there was no place for females in the military.

Because of that, Piña decided to form a proper knight band, composed mostly of females and some males (mostly higher-ranked noble boys and some experienced veterans Piña picked herself), and with some additional troops, they became the "Order of the Rose Knights".

The "Order of the Rose Knights" received the blessing of noble society and the court, but for the most part they played the part of honor guards, guardians for noblewomen, and ceremonial occasions, but they had no combat experience.

And then, things in the Empire changed.

Things being as they were, the Order of the Rose Knights could no longer languish in the rear echelons. Under the command of Piña, who thirsted for actual combat, they raised flags of red, white and yellow roses, and marched down the Appian Way.

They could hardly bear to look upon Italica as it was besieged by bandits.

Arrows rained upon the city from the outside, past the city walls and onto the outer ring of houses. The bodies of the bandits and the defenders of Italica littered the ground on both sides of the city walls, and the ground was painted scarlet with dried blood.

Those men who still had strength were rushing back and forth to put out fires. The small ones could be extinguished with water, but the buildings burning in earnest had to be abandoned.

The women tried to help the moderately- or critically-injured, while the children collected scattered weapons and arrows.

The lightly-injured people buried the dead, using shovels to dig mass graves in the outskirts of the city. Normally, they would have buried them properly, but there were too many corpses, so they did away with the ceremony and just put them in the ground. The bandits' bodies were simply dumped into a deep ditch.

In this way, the soldiers, the merchants, the barmaids, the men, the women, the elderly, the children, everyone in the city came out to help. Anyone would be tired if they had to keep working like this amidst the pitched battle of the afternoon.

"Your Highness... may we, may we take a break?"

An old man, who represented the citizens, asked that of the supervising Piña in a small voice.

Everyone looked tired, and she understood their feelings. However, now they had to quickly bury the dead, put out the burning houses and watch towers, as well as repairing the city gates and barricades.

Piña knew the importance of these things, and so she turned an annoyed look onto the old man asking for a rest.

"The bandits haven't given up yet. Once they rally themselves, they'll immediately attack again. We can't count on destroyed city gates and barricades to protect us; it'll be even more tiring."

"But, but..."

The old man must have thought Piña was being an unreasonable tyrant. Their positions and perspectives were different. It would seem that expecting them to understand was a naive dream she had.

"I'm not asking you. This is an order."

"Gray, how are the city gates, can we fix them?"

Gray, who was keeping track of the gate's condition, turned to Piña.

"Your Highness, in my opinion, it is beyond repair. The bolt is completely destroyed,"

"Then what should we do?"

"Why not tear it down and jam up the entrance?"

They could enter and leave via the small side doors. After all, they would not be moving carriages and wagons through the main gate. If they could open the side doors to move in and out, then blocking up the main entrance ought to be fine.

"Good. Make it so."

Gray directed the citizens to gather their sturdy furniture and pile it against the gate.

"They might burn it down. Will that be all right?"

Gray shrugged and said that if it started burning, they might as well toss more wood in.

Piña thought about it, and nodded. After all, a burning fence was a great barrier.

Piña looked back, and raised her head to the top of the wall.

"Norma! How's your side?"

On top of the wall, Norma was surveying the outside with a bow in hand. He looked back and replied, "No enemies so far!"

"Stay alert, don't slack off. Who knows when they'll come back."

Norma nodded, ignoring the rills of blood flowing down his forehead, and ordered his subordinates to keep their eyes peeled.

"Come, come, you should be hungry, right? We've prepared food."

The speaker was one of the maids from the Count's household, who was driving a wagon with a big pot on it. She brought milk and barley porridge, as well as black bread. Neither was particularly delicious, but an empty stomach was the best seasoning for poor food.

Piña was struck by the smell of the food and felt that working while hungry wouldn't help things so she ordered them to eat in shifts. Afterwards, she felt that she should eat too, and so she went to Count Formal's home.

Because the guards and other men were out guarding the city walls, the Count's home was practically devoid of people, and she was not greeted by anyone.

However, not everyone was gone. There were several large cauldrons in the residence's courtyard, filled with barley porridge or baking black bread. All the maids were helping out.

In the end, someone came to greet Piña. It was the Count's old butler and the head maid.

"Your Highness, welcome."

"Mm. Forgive me, but do you have anything to eat or drink?"

As she finished speaking to the head maid, Piña sat on the sofa like it was her own home.

The butler who stood by the side poured a silver goblet of wine for Piña.

"Your Highness, it seems we are saved."

"Not yet. Those fellows will come by for another round."

"Must we fight them? Maybe we could negotiate."

"You want to avoid a fight? Simple. Open the gate and give them all your money and food."

The old butler, who was averse to combat, sighed as he heard Piña speak.

"After they plunder everything you have, they'll kill all the men. The young women will be taken as slaves, but before that, they'll probably… no, they'll definitely be violated. And the bandits will probably want to gang-rape pretty girls like me. I could handle one, maybe two, but I don't think I could stay sane after 50 or 100. What do you think will happen to Myui-sama then?"

"M-Myui-sama is only eleven years old!"

"Who knows, some of the bandits might like them young… or no, they'll definitely have some sick freaks like that among them. So, do you want to pray that there aren't and open the gates to them?"

Sweat poured down the butler's head, and he whined:

"Your, Your Highness. Please, please don't scare me."

"Then all we can do is fight, right? Trying to negotiate with these animals is pointless. That is a path to destruction. All we can do is grit our teeth and resist to the bitter end."

Piña gulped down the wine.

With a satisfied "Whew!", she helped herself to the black bread and barley porridge. However, after a mouthful, she frowned.

"So little and it's bland too?"

The head maid sternly shook her head and spoke: "Your Highness, when one is fatigued, their stomachs will be weak as well. Consuming rich foods in that condition will only do harm to one's body."

Piña accepted the head maid's comments without complaint. Come to think of it, the Count's maids were making food without any sign of fear, and she herself did not remembering ordering them to do so. Whose instructions were those? She could tell that the old butler was a lily-livered coward. Then, was it the old maid?

As she thought about this, Piña asked the old maid a question.

"Have you been through something like this before?"

"I once lived in the town of Rosa."

The town of Rosa had once been attacked by the Empire. Although they beat back the Imperial Army, their government collapsed and they were finally taken by the Empire. It was now a ruin.

That maid must have been in Rosa during that battle. Warfare was not limited to bows, magic and swords. Raising morale, distributing weapons and rations were also ways to fight.

In that sense, the old maid was a combat veteran.

The lady of the house was young, and could not be counted on. So the reason why the maids could soldier on without panicking must have been because of the old maid.

Piña ate until she was nearly full, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Then, I shall go rest in a guest room. If anything happens, bring the messenger directly to me."

As she finished speaking to the old maid, a playful gleam came into Piña's eye and she decided to mess with her.

"What would you do if I did not wake up?"

Said the old maid: "Why, I would dump water on your head and invite you to rise."

She had a very creepy smile on her face.

Piña laughed, and said she wasn't interested in bathing in bed as she headed to the guest room.

However, in the end it was the feeling of cold water on her face that woke her up.

As she wiped her face, she angrily donned her armor over her wet clothes.

"What happened? Is it the enemy?"

Gray felt that Piña's drenched red hair looked exceptionally fetching, but he held his tongue because of the emergency. Instead, he began his report.

"We don't know if they're friend or foe."

As the unknown party approached, the battle-ready soldiers and civilians peeked at them from crenellations in the city walls or the gaps in the roadblocks.

"Your Highness, you can get a good view from here."

A farmer holding a steel hoe made a small hole in one of the roadblocks.

Through the small viewing aperture she saw what looked like metal wagons with strange chained wheels but they were not pulled by horses or cows.

(William brought 2 chimeras this times around as he'll be transporting goods. After all he doesn't want to be in a cramped chimera)

There seems an escort of riders accompanying the metal masons but they doesn't seems to be pulling the wagons.

These wagons does not look like it's made of wood, but rather, it was sheathed in metal.

Still, however exquisite their weapons were, weapons alone could not take a city.

Siege weapons were meaningful because they were used to take the city. However, she could see no enemies within her field of view. They did not seem to want to break down the roadblocks either.

If the siege weapons were there to lower morale, they should be making threatening moves, but they did nothing of the sort, so she could not tell what the other side wanted.

"Norma?!"

"No other enemies."

Norma replied as though he knew what Piña was going to say.

There were spotty... no, they wore dark green clothing with brown and light green splotches, and similarly colored cloth helmets on their heads.

It was hard to tell if they were carrying weapons or magic staves, but from their stern expressions and sharp glares, these people had power that could not be ignored.

"Friend or foe?! If you are a friend, then come out!"

Norma shouted loudly, while Piña, Italica's defenders and the citizens all held their breath.

After a while, the back door of one of the covered wagons opened.

A girl emerged from it. She seemed to be 13 to 15 years old. Judging by the long robe and the magic staff she was carrying, she was instantly recognizable as a mage.

The staff seemed to be made of wood… which meant she was an orthodox mage of the Lindon school. If that was the case, she should be skilled with attack spells and spell combat despite her young age.

In the previous attack, the bandits had not fielded any mages. That might have been why the defenders could hold out as long as they did, but if the bandits now had a mage on their side, the battle would be much harder.

Piña clucked her tongue as she thought about the difficult battle that lay ahead.

The next to alight was a girl of around 16, wearing strange fanciful clothes.

The strange is quite elaborate and fanciful that surely no normal peasant much less bandit could wear.

The problem was this girl's long, pointed ears. She was an elf, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

No good… the enemy had Elves in addition to mages. She heard that Elves were, without exception, excellent spirit-summoners. Of note were those who could summon the wind spirits to create bolts of lightning that could wipe out an entire platoon. Even a full knight company would have trouble defeating both a Lindon-style mage and an Elf using spirit magic.

Should she try taking them down while they were off guard? Sniping them with bows might work...

While she thought of ways to take down the two of them, after she saw the girl alight from the vehicle, her damp clothes suddenly turned ice cold.

She wore priest's clothing, made of black silk and edged in lace.

She was a young girl who wore a headdress of black gauze over her black hair.

"That, that's Rory... Mercury!"

She was an agent of the god of death, judgement, madness and war — an Apostle of Emroy.

Because the Emperor (obviously the not God emperor) counted as the highest religious official in the Empire, he could speak with Apostles during national religious events. As such, she had the chance to see the Apostles of the god Emroy, which was why Piña could recognize her.

"Is that the legendary Rory the Reaper? Although it's the first time I've seen her, she looks like the young lady in the Count's residence…"

Indeed, Rory looked much younger than the mage girl and the Elf girl.

However, her slender limbs were easily holding a halberd that looked heavier than herself, and she thumped it into the earth as she came.

"Don't be fooled by her looks, she's a monster that's over 900 years old."

Before the Empire was formed, while this world was in chaos, there were already unaging "demigods", called Apostles. Even so, Rory was the second youngest among these Apostles.

An Apostle, a mage and an Elf… Piña would rather flee than think of fighting the three of them.

"However, what's an Apostle of Emroy doing with a bunch of bandits?"

Piña shook her head at Gray's question.

"You can't judge these people like that."

Normal human values did not apply to Apostles. They cared nothing for the Emperor or the Senate's laws, or even the thing called justice. It might not be wrong to say they sneered at them.

That was Piña's worried explanation.

"Whether the Gods exist has nothing to do with good or evil. People pray to them, but bad things still happen. One can get sick even if one lives a virtuous life and a cruel tyrant can still live a long time. All these have nothing to do with prayer or reverence.

Gods are beings that humans can't understand. Or rather, humans can't understand the motivations of the Gods… and some people say the Gods must be crazy."

After hearing Piña's thoughts, Gray's brow was slick with sweat. He muttered, "If her Holiness hears that, we'll be in trouble..."

"Oh yes. These people style themselves as the Gods' messengers. If you say Gods are completely insane and incomprehensible, then there's no purpose for them to exist."

In a polytheistic world, the faiths did not differentiate between good, evil, orthodoxy or heresy. If one tired of one god, then one could worship another. However, the priesthood was a religious organization that enjoyed certain privileges and power. Anyone who denigrated the gods would become a target for them.

"I didn't hear that, I didn't hear that..."

Gray shook his head at Piña from behind her. Then, Piña peered outside through the gap.

"Oh... they're here."

She looked to the front of the gate once more. The mage girl was approaching them.

...

Usually, the traffic here would be flowing briskly, and between the merchants and the taxmen they had to deal with, the area would be very lively. However, that bustle was nowhere to be seen today. A pile of wood and furniture blocked the main gate, denying all who would enter.

On top of the city wall, which was three stories tall, the sentries were lining up and pointing their crossbows at them.

They had even installed a polybolos, which could release multiple bolts in sequence.

In addition, they had many things that were difficult to imagine as weapons. For instance, there are steaming cauldrons, suspended over fires.

If it were located by a river or on a mountain top, one might think it was a cookpot for a witch. But on top of a city wall, there was no way to think it was there to prepare food.

'Now why would they be preparing boiling water when they're facing a dragon?' William wondered as he was expecting to face a dragon.

Unknown to William however it's not boiling is in the pot but molten lead. (No idea why they're using lead as lead is even more expensive than oil)

Looking at the defense of the settlement before him William couldn't help but utter "primitive" as their 'defence' is pretty much a joke to him.

William looks at a particularly scrawny looking guy with a pitchfork on the walls.

There are a few ballistas but William is pretty sure they'll just bounce off the chimera armor, at this time a guy from the walls shouts out.

"Friend or foe?! If you are a friend, then come out!"

Although William didn't know what the guy is saying as he said it in the native gibberish, however William could tell from their tone that they're not all to welcoming.

William is starting to have second guesses as he whispered to Lelei, "Doesn't sound like they're all to welcoming . Should we try another city?"

Judging from their all to welcoming tone William is pretty sure he can't discuss things with them in a civil manner and in all likelihood he end up walking into a trap.

At this time the Sergeant said over the vox, "Just give the order and they'll all be dawn in no time". A few of William's men strengthen their grips on their autoguns like a coiled snake ready to pounce, they're ready to let out a hailstorm of lead as soon a the order is given.

William thought about but at this time, however at this time Lelei I. her usual blank expression and steady voice to said, "Rejected".

"But we can't get in while they're like this." A trooper complained.

"There are other entrances. Italica is a plains city. There will be gates on the north, south, east and west. There's no way that there's no other way in."

"William i, you wait here first. I'll go over there to talk to them."

With that, Lelei made to stand. However, Tuka immediately stopped her and told her to wait.

Tuka, like William , wanted to know why they had to go to this town.

Although she wasn't afraid like, when one thought about it, there was no benefit to getting involved with a town that seems to be under siege. There was a chance they might be pulled into the conflict... well, if they entered the town, they would definitely be involved.

William is not to keen on getting into the mess especially when his enemies are infighting.

Lelei replied to her: "It's not a question of entering the town, but I want to let them know we're not enemies. If we leave like this, they will think we're part of the enemy forces. If we come back in the future, or go to other towns, that news will spread. It'll be inconvenient."

"However, are you going to pull these people into it because of us?"

Tuka gestured to William and the others as she spoke.

"They helped us without asking for repayment. Shouldn't we keep them out of danger?"

"That's why I'm going. We've received a lot from William's generosity, so I don't want them to think that William and his men are enemies."

"Are you doing this for William ?"

"Yes. After all, he own this special riding carriage."

Tuka had to nod as she heard this.

"It'll be fine. We'll just say we came to do business and that we're confirming the situation."

"I understand. However, I can't let you go alone. You need protection from arrows."

As Tuka said that, she began chanting a spell in the language of the fairies.

Almost immediately, they could feel the motion of the wind.

And so, Lelei, Tuka and Rory exited the vehicle.

"William, wait here for a bit."

After repeating that line, the three of them slowly approached the main gate.

And so, Lelei, Tuka and Rory exited the vehicle.

The sentries' crossbow tracked them as they approached.

William watched as he wonders what are they up to.

Surely they don't plan to assault the fortress right?

While he can make easy work of the fort with the lascannon mounted on the chimera and the missile launchers his men is equipped with bit what about them? They're just a bunch of fuedals, so it's highly unlikely that they're just going to talk. But why did the three of them go out? Surely just sending one person in could do the job or heck they could even yell.

William has no idea what those three are up to.

...

Piña was forced to make a decision.

She had no basis for her decision, but she had to decide anyway. This would be a big gamble.

"Gray, what should we do?"

Even the experienced Gray could not answer Piña's question. Nobody could guarantee the outcome, and under these conditions, the need to make a big decision like this turned into an immense source of stress. This was called the "Chains of Commanding".

The soldiers gripped their weapons, awaiting Piña's decision.

The bowmen's hands trembled as they drew their strings taut.

The farmers waited with their metal farming implements.

The sword-bearing soldiers, the people of Italica, all their lives rested on her decisions.

To begin with, would the Apostle of Emroy, Rory Mercury, as well as an Elf and a mage, actually join a group of bandits?

The answer... was "no". She wanted it to be "no".

As for why...well, if they had been part of the bandits from the start, they would have taken part in the first attack and Italica would have fallen long ago.

However, Rory and the others might not have been with the bandits from the beginning. They might have been waiting for the right time to join in. She could not conclude that they were not part of the bandits just because they did not take part in the first attack.

And if they were not part of the bandits, then why had Rory and the others come to Italica? Why had they come to a town under siege?

She should just deny them entry, but that might turn them into enemies.

Piña wanted Rory and friends on her side. After all, the townspeople and soldiers would be certain of victory with an Apostle of Emroy, an Elf and a mage on their side.

She sensed that she lacked the leadership skills to make her men certain of their victory.

Although she wasn't sure why Rory and the others had come, if she could talk them into joining, then she could tell the residents, "Help is here!"

No, there was no time for long discussions. She had to make them her allies.

Either that, or forbid them entry. She had two choices.

As Piña was thinking of what to do, the sound of knocking came from the outside of the gate.

She held her breath.

Then, Piña gulped, and made a decision. She would use her imposing demeanor to pin down the other party and drag them over to her side.

The thrice-bolted gate was forcefully and powerfully thrust open.

"You're here at last!"

...

William is silent for a bit.

Well that sure is quite the contrast for the yelling man earlier, he didn't know that he was expected... but hey that's a welcoming..

And so William and his gang entered the city.


	13. Chapter 12

The red haired girl introduces herself as Pina Co Lada princess of the empire and welcomed William into the city.

Seeing the dilapidated city saw how desperate their situation is, this gave William an idea while he isn't sure how much the princess cares about this town but he could probably get something in exchange for saving this town.

In the process he could showcase the vast difference between their military might and get more leverage in the peace treaty, Once negotiations starts.

So William walks into the lords manner and offers a deal they're hard to resist.

...

At this moment, the residents of Italica were desperately repairing their walls and barriers.

Once they heard that they would be aided not just by the Apostle of Emroy, the Elf and the mage, but even by the "Graymen", the townspeople's courage multiplied a hundredfold, and the soldiers' morale soared.

If they did have the power to defeat a Flame Dragon, then routing these broken men who had become bandits would be a trivial task. Of course, the gay men only numbered 12, so they would still have to fight. However, once they took out their "rods of steel", they would destroy the bandits easily.

The despair that filled the town from earlier had vanished, and the peoples' eyes were filled with light and hope. Nobody wanted to leave their homes behind and flee, so if they could, they still wanted to protect this town. The presence of William and his men was the source of their hope.

The eyes of the townspeople were locked firmly on the backs of William and his men.

At Piña's request, William had moved his men to the frontline on the south gate. This way, it would not be hard for them to respond to requests for help.

According to her, the south gate had already been broken through once, and the defensive preparations there were completely destroyed. As such, it was a weakness in their defenses. In the upcoming battle, it should be the site of intense fighting.

The last time, they had halted the enemy advance with berms and fences, but the ensuing melee had left many dead. Now the townspeople were mobilized in full to repair the fences and strengthen the berms.

To William, in order to safeguard the defensive line of the city wall and gate, it would be best to concentrate their fighting strength there, but Piña insisted that they would have a second line of defense behind the walls of fences in the interior.

'maybe she doesn't know but a few feet of solid stone is surely better than that flimsy looking wooden fense, which Seems to best serve at keeping wild animals away' William thought but kept a smile on his face

Unlike William, who was waiting for reinforcements, Piña did not think they could hold out long enough for help to arrive, so her plan was to make the invaders pay in blood for every inch they advanced, in the hopes of breaking their moral.

Her tactics seems to assume that the main gate would be breach and the enemies could freely walk into the city.

William on the other hand though differently as if the main gate does fall and the enemy does stream there, it just means that the enemy would be concentrated there and would be funneling there, perfect for a kill zone.

Although he only has limited ammunition but he is pretty confident that his men could now dawn a hundred or two before his men runs out of ammunition.

By that time his reinforcements would have already arrived.

To William is really matters little the tactics they use as they're pretty much primitive feudal tactics.

What use is the Phalanx or Testudo against mass autogun fire?

Anyway William gathered his men atop the city gate, and from there they had a good view of the stone streets of a feudal city, under the light of the setting sun.

Although it was a regional town, Italica had a population of over 5000 people. It was located at the crossroads of the Appian Way and the Tisarian Way, and there were shops and inns located along the streets that ran in the four cardinal directions. Behind them were various warehouses, stables and merchant offices.

In the forest to the north was the large manor of Count Formal, which was surrounded by other luxurious homes, turning it into a high-class residential district.

The south, east and west portions were surrounded by stone walls, while the north was surrounded by cliffs as a natural barrier.

William turned back, and looked along the outskirts of the city.

There were roads that stretched to the horizon. There were planting fields and fallow fields where the cattle grazed. There were fallen trees, forests, and a few small houses. And then...

William's binoculars caught sight of the bandit scouts, who were several men on horses. They moved slowly, probably trying to spy out the state of the defense preparations.

Beyond them, he could see the bandits' hideout.

It's quite possible that they're going to take the full bandit attack heads on but Willdoesn seems all that concerned.

The bandits did not have the option of an enveloping attack.

There were far too few bandits to encircle the town, and a siege would take a very long time. That would be very bad for the bandits. Similarly, tunnelling and a slow, cautious advance by digging trenches were out of the question.

That being the case, the bandits could only pick a point and assault it. However, that was not simply an application of brute force, but an attack that would make use of the unique advantage of the attacker.

This advantage was the attackers' ability to dictate the time and place of their engagements. With this freedom, they could feint an attack and then break through the weakened defenses elsewhere. That was the typical approach.

The objective they would attack would still be weak, despite it being a feint.

'I see, so the reason they gave us the south gate was...' William scratched his chin as he realized what that woman is up to.

They planned to deliberately make a weakness along the defensive line, which would draw in the enemy's attacks.

That being the case, Piña's tactics were understandable.

During the last battle, they had also deliberately feigned a vulnerability, so the enemy would think it was an easy target. When the enemy committed themselves to the attack, they began a battle of attrition with them from the strong second defense line. Practically speaking, even if the enemy broke through the city gate, they would be stopped and worn down against the sturdy inner defensive line.

Since the attackers' and defenders' forces were too small for a pitched battle all over the city, they favored concentrating their forces like that.

Giving the weaker south gate to William and his men was a tacit admission that they were going to be bait, in order to turn the south gate into the site of a pitched battle. Thinking of that, it made more sense that she would focus on reinforcing the inner defensive line.

Being task as the bait William didn't get offended at all infact he felt amused by that woman's plan.

He's not sure if she's doing this with intent trying to convey some sort of message or simply ignorance, as putting William in that position is simply not a wise decision ,especially since all their armies that were sent to attack Alnus have been obliterated.

It wouldn't be to their advantage if put on the negotiating table.

Now that he thinks of it her awfully friendly actions in welcoming him to the city seems to point to the former.

Anyway William is to lazy to decipher her intent as the difference between them will be made abundantly clear once his reinforcements arrives.

In the meantime William could only fortify his position in preparation for the full-blown enemy attack.

"everyone selective fire! try to conserve ammunition as much as possible!" the Sargent barked

Everyone did as he said and set their autoguns to semi-auto.

"You guard that that position..." the Sargent then took charge and started organising the men their positions.

There was only an hour left until the sun completely set. William then distributed flairs to be use if the enemy decides for a night assault.

Meanwhile, a trooper asked a question to William.

"Why are we helping these feudals who should be our enemy? Why indeed? Well... it's to demonstrate our military might infront of a member of their ruling dynasty, to pave way for future negotiations." William replied

Going by the reasoning of "The enemy of the enemy is my friend", it would not be strange to assume that taking the bandits as allies would be a natural, but William did not do that.

There are many reasons for that.

One is that the bandits are simply to insignificant as a power base, there's quite a few leaps to make in turning a bunch of bandits to the overlords of a world.

Another is that bandits don't make particularly great administrators, while the imperium primarily made up of tributary states don't particularly care the management of a planet. However they do care when the quality or the quantity of tithes is effected. The big difference between a tyrant and a bandit is that one knows how to mange his holdings while his method might be displeased a few, thus earning the title tyrant. while the other doesn't have holdings which is the primary reason why people became bandits, because they don't have anything of value that's why they steal them from other people.

Not to mention bandits are not really known for making the best of loyal pawns as they have a tendency of biting the hand that feeds them.

Piña was an Imperial Princess defending Count Formal's family. Because of that, she had negotiated with William and asked for his help.

Rory was there too, but since she couldn't stand Piña's presence, she left shortly after.

And then, William agreed to "the protection of Italica". Officially, they could fight together because they had the same objective of defending Italica.

Even so, his men still could not understand why William was taking orders from an savage fuedal princess. After all, he his status as the son of a planetary governor is surly much much higher than a savage feudal princess.

"Do you want to know why?" Rory asked as she when to William's side and looked at the sun set together.

William frowns

"Emroy is a war god, so He does not forbid killing. However, the motive for killing is important. Lies stain the soul."

'Ah one of the native savage religions' William thought although it has a tiny bit too much of Khorne stench for his liking.

Obviously it isn't strange for lost colonies to not worship the emperor and William being in a family of rouge traders naturally knows that fact, so he just let it slide for now.

He can correct them the errors of their ways once he gains control of the planet.

"I, William Alexander of house Lancelot will keep my word in defending this town. I act in accordance with the privileges bestowed upon my house by the God-Emperor's holy imperium. My intentions are clear with an objective in mind" William replied as he stares into the "little girl's" face.

Rory looks back at William seeming trying to discern any falsehood in his word.

(Since he didn't lie then he doesn't need to roll a dice for deception)

"Interesting. Very very interesting." She said

He would carve the word "fear" into the Princess' heart. He would show his fighting power to her without holding back, and make her tremble at the thought of doing battle with him. That way, getting along with him would be much more attractive than fighting him.

William after all wants the empire as undamage as much as possible, the people he'll be saving are ones going to man his nanufactorums after all.

"Well, if that's the case, I'd like to help too. It's been a while since I last had the chance to cut loose."

Rory lifted her skirt and curtseyed to Itami, like a dancer bowing to her partner.

...

The battle began when the night was almost over.

The attack was executed just before the sun rose.

In the darkness before dawn, the bandit archers launched flame arrows at the eastern gate.

At the eastern gate was the knight Norma Co Igloo.

Under Norma's direction, the sentries and militia returned fire with their bows. Though they were called militia, they were farmers who had never touched a bow in their lives and expecting accuracy from them was impossible. However, their arrow fire would suppress the enemy and might even cause a casualty or two.

In this way, the battle became an exchange of arrows for a time.

The soldiers, the farmers, the broken men who had become bandits, they all screamed and fell.

Between the archers marched footmen in armor and carrying sturdy shields. They pressed close to the wall. Their uniforms were varied while their shields were of different sizes and shapes, which suggested that they were of mixed origins.

(That's why you have... Machicolations on castles)

Against them the stout grocery shop aunties and the older children hurled rocks, or poured cauldrons of molten lead down on them. These weapons were more effective and destructive than the inaccurate bow volleys.

And more expensive in the case of lead.

Below the walls, the bandits raised their shields in an attempt to protect themselves from the storm of arrows and rocks raining down on them. Even if they were shot by arrows, knocked out by rocks, or burned alive by boiling oil, they did not retreat.

They must have wanted to expend the hatred, frustration and impotence they felt at not being able to attack Arnus against this place, and they rammed the eastern gate with huge logs.

As for the bandits... or shall we say for the remnants of the defeated coalition army, the Battle of Arnus was not a battle.

Without having even glimpsed their enemy, without knowing what was going on, their own people had simply fallen over. The hatred for the Empire which had cruelly kept them in ignorance of their foe, their grudges against the useless commanders who could only urge them forward to their deaths, these feelings were deeply carved into their hearts.

Quite the contrast to their forebears back in ancient terra that fought in Terra's first global war.

Men rushing straight into machine gun fire, under heavy artillery barrages and gas attacks for 4 years.

Some of the other descendants of these proud brave men have exceeded their Terran ancestors and could survive in perpetual trench warfare.

Such vast differences between 2 peoples that came from the same gene is truly shaming for their Terran forbears.

William sighs

Without commanders, without comrades, without allegiance, without supplies, without food, these feudals wandered around in the wilderness, and in the end, they had become bandits, without even their homes. Soon, others who had suffered as they did came, and their numbers had grown until now.

Their respect for the Empire had become an equal amount of hatred and anger, which ruled their souls.

To them war is slicing each other with swords, killed with arrows, burned with fire and trampled with hooves.

To them war, with its rape, its plunder, its massacres, and its deaths.

Indeed, they had made war their motivation. A personal war, a war that could satisfy them. A simple slaughter, a simple spreading of death. The feelings of stabbing, slashing and being stabbed, bathing in one's opponents' blood, hugging the cold earth as they died. They threw themselves forward to experience this. If not, the war would be over for them.

Several ladders caught on the city wall.

The bandits raised their shields and climbed them.

Blocking the arrows that flew at them, the bandits finally reached the top of the wall.

A brave farmer hacked up a ladder even after taking an arrow to the knee. The bandits praised his courage as they fired their arrows, cheering for him even as they cut him down.

The ladder that had lost its grip on the wall fell with the soldiers to the ground, along with the farmer that had brought it down.

Even the loud crash as it hit the ground brought a round of cheering.

It was as though they had gone mad at a festival, banging on the shields with their swords and screaming in their own tongues.

This was the song of praise they sang to Emroy, god of war.

The madness of battle was their sacrifice to Emroy and the flames of war, fuelled by the souls of the dead combatants, burned fiercely.

The flame arrows struck the clock tower, which burned wildly out of control against the black of the night.

Looking through the binoculars William couldn't help but starts feeling that this world might be in need of cleansing. William briefly considered devastating the population of this world but he quickly discarded it as the possibility of it being of chaotic influence is quite low.

Although if anyone of them starts saying "blood for the blood god, skull for the skull throne" then it's open season on these feudals.

Meanwhile the Apostle, Rory Mercury, was trying to endure it.

She hugged herself to endure it.

Sweat gushed down her forehead.

"Wh-why?"

The spirit of battle that floated around her infected her flesh and penetrated her spirit.

"Why aren't they attacking here?"

The flames of war scorched her soul, and sweet movements flowed from her heart and up her swaying spine.

Her arms and legs moved on their own, and she shook like a priestess who was intoxicated by hallucinogenic drugs.

"Huuaaa. haaaa..."

The pleasure flowing out from inside her nearly brought her to climax, and against the black of night, the demigoddess twisted her body so everyone could see her bewitching form.

"Is she alright?"

William wanted to go over to Rory, since he was surprised by her sudden frenzy, but Lelei and Tuka stopped him.

"It's because she's an Apostle..."

William frowns thinking about stories from his cousins about Feral worlds they've been through, one of the stories he heard from his cousins is that on a particular feral world the inhabitants would strangely be a roused when there's a full moon and proceeded to have intercourse with the nearest thing around, be it tree, cat ,dog or just another person.

While he does not understand the details, but Rory seemed to be aroused by the battle happening from a far.

While William had heard stories of battle hungry individuals but he doesn't think that this is what they mean by aroused by the scent of blood.

A little bit of a weird fling... but he has heard of weirder things so William shrug it off for now.

As the battle when on and smoke started to rise went on a trooper then asked "are we going to help?"

"Not yet.." William replied as he's waiting for the right time to act.

With that reply the trooper stood silent and waited for Williams order.

Meanwhile on the other section of the wall

"Bandits should go attack villages! You're pretty damn bold to attack a town!"

This was Norma the knight's cry. He had discovered that none of the arrows on his side had hit. Even if all the people on his side were amateurs, he could see that the path of the launched arrows had mysteriously diverted from their targets, as though they were protected by the wind.

"Could it be that the enemy can summon spirits?"

Norma drew his sword and cut down a southern bandit who was scaling the wall. The stricken soldier fell off the wall and to the ground.

However, a bearded bandit from the north tried to hack Norma down from behind.

After intercepting it with his sword, the bandits behind continued attacking the militia on defense. They had spears, clubs, morning stars, twin swords, scimitars and more.

The endless flow of bandits overwhelmed the people of Italica, and they had nowhere to run.

There were some differences in the current situation from Piña's battle plan.

They had expected the first line of defense to fall, but it had fallen too soon. Now the tops of the city wall were a battleground and the sentries and militia had been forced off.

"We're too weak. That's even when you consider the raised morale."

They'd had expected the enemy to be aware of their schemes and to be on guard for it.

However, in truth the enemy was not on guard at all.

They attacked and attacked, without any tactics or strategy,

And the militia and sentries who took this attack were caught wrong-footed right from the beginning. Thus, they could not pin down the enemy like Piña had hoped. They could not even inflict significant losses.

Still, on the whole, the defenders could still fight.

"Reality is different from what you picture in your head." Piña, who knew this, was not surprised that her plan had not turned out exactly as she had hoped.

Even if she felt a vague sense of foreboding, like something stuck between her teeth, Piña followed the plan and moved her main fighting strength from the east gate to the defensive barriers they had built in the interior.

The east and northwest gates were reinforced with a second defensive line of berms and fences.

Although a second defensive line sounded good on paper, they had been built with the assumption that the first line would be overrun. So the first line was essentially a sacrifice.

The militia did not understand this when the battle started. However, now they understood that the people manning the gates had been abandoned from the start.

Their allies stood at the berms and other barriers they built behind them, yet none of them stepped forward to help. They were merely watching them fight and die. How many people would not despair after realizing this?

Some people realized this and gave up, swinging their swords wildly until they soon fell.

"Where are the graymen? Where are our reinforcements?!"

They could not possibly come. After all, they had been stationed at the south gate, as fellow sacrifices.

And so, as the townspeople watched, the gate's last defender finally fell.

Piña had assumed that the bandits would immediately press the attack once they took the east gate, but the bandits did not do so. They raised their swords and spears, and cheered three times. This was a literal sacrifice, after all. After that, the city gates opened slowly, and the cavalry and soldiers from outside entered.

The horsemen dragged the corpses of the militia and sentries who had fallen from the city wall. They began tossing those bodies into the city.

Among them were the bodies of the rock-throwing children and the aunties.

They hurled the severed heads of farmers and merchants at the inner fence.

As the townspeople waited for the enemy to attack, the corpses of their friends, relatives and family piled up like a small mountain.

The townspeople facing the bandits from behind the fences gritted their teeth against their tears and despair, while the bandits mocked them.

They cursed and insulted them as cowards hiding in a cage.

They toyed with the corpses as though they were puppets.

How could the militia, made of farmers and merchants with weapons, bear to watch this?

"Bastards!"

A hot-blooded young man leapt over the fence, shovel in hand, while others also joined him.

In this way, the battle inside the city was completely different from how Piña had envisioned it, and her battle plan fell apart.

Back to William

Rory's lewd moaning and physical contortions grew more intense as time passed.

She held her breath and shook her hair. Her body bent backward like a bow. She grabbed her head, on the verge of tears, and her feet stamped the ground.

Her feverish gasping and twisted expression looked like she had been cursed, like she was a puppet shuddering on her strings, her body twitching and her arms flailing.

It was a cursed, mad dance she could not control by her own will, but it was beautiful.

According to Lelei's explanations, the souls of the fallen were passing through her body on their way to Emroy. Although she would be influenced by the personalities of the soul and their fighting spirit, to a demigoddess like her, they were like an aphrodisiac or some nonsense like that.

Obviously William didn't believe in Lelei's nonsense.

William had heard that from his cousins that the religion of lost colonies are lead by scammers. The would act all weird, pretend to have a headache and then claim to hear the voice of the gods.

His cousin has a psyker in his party. His cousin explains to him that the psyker had read the "Pope's" (the inhabitants of that particular planets calls its religious leader) mind and found that he's pretending all along. In other times its just delusions brought by old age.

That is not mentioning the weird shamans from feral worlds. He has heard bizarre stories about them from his cousins.

Compared to pretending to be a wolf and howling at the moon, Rory isn't all that strange.

Right around this time

A single Vulture gunship is spearheading a flight of Valkyries.

The pilot of the vulture turned on the Vox and called in William.

"Mi lord we're about to enter strike range in 5 minutes"

"Good, now play the music and put a good show for these people" William replied

William decided to make a grand show for the Princess to make a long lasting impression.

The pilot turned off the Vox and proceeded to play the music on the external speakers.

The sound of horns rang out.

The light sounds of woodwinds raced through the air like a Pegasus, and the main theme commenced with the blaring of the trumpets.

This was a song written in honor of the eight Valkyries in ancient terrain myth. While much of ancient Terran remains a mystery but occasionally a few fragments of its ancient past will resurface.

This song was uncovered in an ancient cogitator or a "com-pu-ter" as people at the time calls it, much of the contents of ancient cogitator is damaged beyond repair but this song is one of the few intact data extracted.

The song doesn't have much value so it was give to William as a gift and William surprising has taken a liking to the old song.

...

Blades carved into flesh and blood sprayed out.

A human head came apart like a watermelon being split at the seaside. The sound of the sword hit echoed around.

There were shouts of men facing their dooms and bitter cries of suffering.

Like a train station at rush hour, people were pressed against each other everywhere.

Nobody could spare a thought for the overall situation. All their attention was focused on the enemy in front of them while they hacked and slashed with their swords. Of course, some people were cowering on the ground, trying to crawl to a place without enemies, but they were trampled into the ground by horses.

The ground was strewn with corpses and bodies and remains, and the stone floor was dyed a reddish black by dried blood, and the brighter red of freshly-spilled blood flowed from friend and foe alike.

That was why they did not hear the distant sound that thundered through the air.

A woman's singing rang through the sky, accompanied by trombones.

At this moment, time stood still.

It stood still when she leapt over the berms, the fences, and landed on the ground.

She knocked over men and horses, friend and foes, and cleared a space around her.

In that instant, everything stopped.

Under the force of that impact and its destructive power, all sound vanished and the clamor of battle faded away. In its place, they heard the sound of trumpets:

"dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da!"

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the black object that had appeared before them.

"dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da!"

It was a girl in jet-black priest's clothing, edged with lace.

"dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da! dam-da-dam-da!"

Both her knees rested on the ground.

Her left hand was planted on the floor.

In the other was a halberd that sent chills up people's spines.

She raised her head and her mad eyes looked forward. A radiant silver glow limned her hair.

In that moment, as the demigoddess smiled mockingly while the horns blew, the top of the east gate caught fire.


	14. Chapter 13

The group of Valkyries spearheaded by a Vulture began gunning down the bandits outside the walls with Heavy Bolter fire.

Daka Daka Daka Daka Daka

Occasionally they would shower a tightly packed enemy cluster with multi-laser fire.

BeamBeamBeamBeam

The multi-laser fire is really a sight to behold as the light show is quite enticing and the death it brought those who unfortunately enough to be hit by it.

The attack came from several sides, in several waves.

From the east to the west, then doubling back and going over the ground they covered… again and again, from left to right, front to back, an endless hail of gunfire with the occasional multi-las fire sprayed across the land and killed everything that moved.

The bandits scattered, like a swarm of ants that just got it tsant nest disturbed. However, whether on foot or mounted, none of them could escape.

The bandits, caught in the middle of their burning, killing and pillaging, had the tables turned on them, and they exploded into tiny bits and pieces, what's left of them then motionlessly fell to the ground. This happened because they hit by a Bolter round or las fire.

Contrary to popular belief that las weapons burns their targets, las weapons infact vaporise their targets. The sudden expansion of hot air would act as if an explosive have detonated in your body.

A brave man actually managed to nock and loose an arrow at them, but the arrow fired into the sky had little force. It fell swiftly, without any power.

Aboard on one of the Valkyries , a trooper placed aimed the heavy mounted door mounted Heavy Bolter at a bunch of fleeing bandits and opened fire.

Daka Daka Daka Daka Daka

The Heavy Bolter shook and buckled as round after round of bolts exited its barrel, bringing forth death and misery to whom ever got hit by it.

...

Italica's city gate was wreathed in crimson flame, and the sun that rose into the sky filled the world with heat and radiance.

The fully-armored soldiers were ripped to shreds.

The sound of Death's wings were different from those of birds. It was a more ferocious, more foreboding sound than their's, which repeated on and on.

A hail of bolts fell upon the stones of the city wall, leaving it pock-marked with crater like holes.

The mounted Piña, who was pressing her throat as she shouted orders, suddenly lost her voice and stared mutely at the tragedy unfolding before her.

She watched the iron Pegasi with their wings of steel, soaring through the sky that they owned.

The first thing one would think of when one mentioned airborne troops were obviously the Dragon riders. But what Piña saw was not a living creature, but a far more terrible thing. Dragon riders should have attacked far more elegantly, using sword and lance in equal measure. However, these were different. They brought with them a storm of one-sided slaughter, of utter brutality.

When the lighting bolts of the iron Pegasi struck the ground, they destroyed everything they hit. Stones were reduced to pebbles, horses were blasted to pieces and men caught in the blasts lay down and died.

Dam-da-dam-da! Dam-da-dam-da! Dam-da-dam-da!

Piña shuddered, as though she had been stabbed in the back by a sword of ice. In an instant, everything had been destroyed by an absolute brutality that nothing could resist. Her emotions, positive and negative, blended within her and shook both her body and soul.

Dam-da-dam-da! Dam-da-dam-da! Dam-da-dam-da!

Piña's mind and soul were battered by the carnage on all sides assaulting her every sense.

She eventually came to the conclusion that humanity was worthless, meaningless, and powerless.

The music continues

Until now, all the foes she had met had been physically massive beings.

However, this was a mistake.

She could not look them in the eye, yet she could not tear her eyes away.

Piña was defeated by the grand spectacle before her. Her pride, her status, everything about her which had worth was denied in an instant.

She did not know what the words in the music meant, but she understood the grand spectacle before her meant.

How miniscule she was, how tragic and powerless she was.

Power? Authority? All those thingsare meaningless before the our grand supreme might.

As the music plays on Piña felt as if she saw a faint silhouette of some ancient deities in the sky guiding the flying Pegasi in the sky.

Piña wept as she felt the Valkyries' disdain. At the same time, she knew there were mighty beings which far exceeded herself.

Powerful beings.

Radiant beings.

What welled up in her heart was respect. Respect and fear.

And there was despair, that such awesome entities were so far removed from her.

...

"Sir! The little girl... I mean Rory, she... she charged into the middle of the enemy!" A trooper reported

William watched in awe of Rory's strength as she cut down few men in her first swipe.

However, this magnificent little girl did not seem very strong at all and is heavily out numbered.

William jumped off the chimera and said "Looks like it's time we also made our move"

"Move in and support the defenders" William ordered as he pulled out his powersword.

As he pulls out the blade an unnatural blue energy field wraps the highly ornate blade.

The Sargent "Alright boys you heard the lord. charge!"

They locked onto their targets, moved into positions and fired.

Bang... Bang Bang.. Bang Bang...Bang

The troopers to conserve ammunition fired in semi-auto putting just enough rounds per target to put it dawn.

They repeated the maneuvers they had learned in training.

Several bandits fell in a pool of blood

Ahead of them was Rory, wielding her halberd in a dance of death. She swung, spun, cleaved her foe's shield apart and then knocked him down. She did not seem worried at all, and her movements were relaxed. However, the bodies were piling up around her.

Her foes tried to press her with their shields, thrusting over the tops with their swords and attacking her knees under the bottoms. But Rory simply took a step back and swung her halberd from top to bottom.

She cut them apart, man and shield in one blow, like she was splitting firewood.

She did not even look behind at the enemies circling behind her. She simply thrust behind with the pointed base of her halberd.

Against a spear attack from all directions, she jumped up as the shafts crossed beneath her, and used them as footholds to vault into the air.

Rory's skirt blossomed like a black rose, showing off her black lace garterbelts that connected to her black panties, and the smooth, flowing lines of her legs. She swung her halberd in a full circle.

As if caught in the blades of a food processor, the tops of the bandits' heads came off, spurting blood like a crimson tide

Her face was spattered in crimson pearls from the bloody rain, as she cleaved the wind, cleaved through flesh, cleaved through steel.

A greatsword filled with equal amounts of fear, hatred and bloodlust swung down on Rory's head.

But Rory's keen eyes noticed the attack, and her opponent's desperate gamble failed.

With her left hand, Rory grabbed her skirt and ducked the blow.

At this time William arrives and cut the man who was trying to ambush Rory in half. William's powersowrd easily cut the man in half without any resistance.

The man watched in disbelief as his upper half slides off to the ground, the lower half stood still for a moment as blood squirts out like a fountain before falling to the ground moments later.

William then looks at the girl and said "need help?"

Rory looked at William and smiled before resuming her path of slaughter.

William too masted no time and began demonstrating his combat prowess as he easily cut dawn his foes. He cuts dawn nearby enemies with the power sword in his right hand while shooting enemies beyond sword reach with his las pistol in his left hand.

The red beam emitted by his las pistol seems to freighten his enemies as each time one of those red beams hits a target, said target ends up exploding in a bloody mess.

Seeing such a gruesome weapon the enemy trembled in fear, they lost the will to fight. They cowered behind their raised shields hoping their mighty shields could offer some protection against such a mighty range weapon.

Unfortunately their hopes were misplaced as while their wooden shields could stop arrow fire but it'll do very little against las blast.

William's las bolts pretty much just punches through their planks of wood.

Rory charged into the breach in their shield wall created by William and continues her onslaught.

William's men did not fall behind as the kept a distance while sniping any enemy who would try to sneak attack the duo from behind.

With their backs covered the duo continues on with their dance of slaughter, hacking, maiming and decapitating those who stand against them.

Meanwhile the citizens of Italica and guards in the middle of the fights found that the enemy attack had suddenly weakened. After looking around, they saw William and his men.

"The Apostle of Emroy is here! The Graymen are here!" As they shouted these things, they regained their discipline, and began helping each other to fight. After that, they heard the sound of explosions and the blaring of the trumpets.

And then, the attack Vulture appeared, breaking through the clouds of smoke that obscured the sky.

Their sheer majesty awed the people watching. They raised their heads to gaze upon the iron Pegasus that had descended from the sky.

The twin-linked Punisher Gatling cannon on both wings swiveled to aim at the bandits which Rory and the others had pressed into a mass.

At this time William heard a vox communication saying "Sir we're in position"

And William replied "do it"

Then he proceeded to grabbed Rory and ran to safety, shouting "Get down!"

Seeing William ran back into safety the pilot nodded as he preceded to mow dawn the enemy.

The twin-linked punisher Gatling cannon began spinning before releasing a stream of death at the enemy.

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The punisher Gatling Cannon is a large, multi-barrelled, rotary ballistic weapon, and is known as one of the fastest-firing slug throwers in the Imperium's arsenal. The Punisher can shred even the heaviest of infantry units with punitive ease.

Suffice to say with two twin-linked Gatling Cannon on both wings just straight up chewed the enemy into mincemeat.

The impact from just from one of the stream of rounds could blast a limb clean off but with these much rounds going into a tiny area... Ho ho ho

Let's just say that by the time stops firing the ground would be covered by a layer of meat paste.

The flames of war blazed, and the stream of rounds destroyed everything.

Before long, the gatling gun stopped. The sound of the trumpets had faded away, and in everyone's ears was the sound of the Vulture's turbojets. All that remained were wisps of gunsmoke.

Soon the Valkyrie transports landed and began disgorging the troops they carry.

The troops that landed began rounding up any stragglers.

At first, nobody dared to speak to the garymen". Whether in numbers or strength, it was clear that they were soldiers from somewhere. Someone reverently asked them their affliction , and the answer they received was "We're the PDF of house Lancelot".

...

Piña stood in front of William , Rory, Tuka and Lelei, but she had no idea what to say.

Just yesterday, when she had met the four of them, she had ordered them to help her, as though she was in charge.

She had been leaning on a table, elegantly sipping her tea, explaining important matters to them like they were her subordinates. This was how Piña and people like her lived in high society.

Well, maybe yesterday's attitude was not so bad, but it was close enough.

But what about her status today? Was she not one of the tragically defeated?

Indeed, the bandits had been beaten back, and the townspeople were happy to have won and survived.

Of course, mourning and getting over the loss of life and lost family members would take a while. Rebuilding the ruined villages and town would be a problem too. However, this victory had been won by betting their lives, so it should be celebrated. Mourning alone would not mean anything to the deceased.

In that sense, Piña should have celebrated, as one of the victors. However, the desolate atmosphere around her was one of defeat.

She did not feel like she had won at all.

The winners were Rory, William and this "Pee Dee EFFu?" whom William represents. (Acronym are usually lost when translating into another language)

These enemies who had taken control of Arnus, who rode iron Pegasi, who held magic in their hands which could scorch the earth into a roaring inferno, who had exterminated in an instant those bandits that had troubled Piña.

If they decided to turn their fangs on Piña and Italica, what could she do? The Empire's Princess Piña and the young Countess Myui of House Formal would become prisoners, and the Empire's breadbasket would be taken by the enemy

What about the townspeople? Could they resist?

No, they would welcome the invaders with open arms. After all, it was the PDF who had won the day. Talk of the "Graymen" had already spread from the mouths of Coda's villagers.

The common folk were simple and did not understand governance. They would be hooked by anything that benefited them, even if it was only temporary.

If they demanded this town in exchange… I might have to kneel in front of them and beg for their mercy, and for them to release myself and Countess Myui.

Me, begging an enemy for mercy? A proud Imperial Princess? Pulling on a man's sleeve like some common whore in an alehouse?

Piña gritted her teeth.

If she went down on her knees and kissed their toes, they might actually do it. She would have to accede to any humiliating requests they had.

Piña fearfully awaited the demands of William and his people.

She had planned to wait. However, in the next few moments, her vision regained its color and the sound from around her called her back to her senses.

"We wish to take our pick of the prisoners."

Lelei translated Hamilton's words to William. From a linguistics standpoint, William alone as much as he prides himself with ring a member of house Lancelot having one of the best bloodlines in the imperium still can't speak the native language fluently for normal communication, so he had to rely on Lelei to translate.

William nods as he thinks about the matter.

"As a symbol of our good faith we would only require a few captives and you can keep the rest." William replied

Obviously is not interested in keeping a bunch of feudal captives. He'll keep them for what? Slave labour? He has servitors for that and it's not like they can be worker at the manufactorum as that would require a certain baseline technical know how to operate.

William will select a few specimens of the ab-humans to be brought back to be studied as he's quite curious about a few things about this planet.

So he let them keep the rest as feudal planets doesn't have the technology to make servitors and instead is quite reliant on human slave labour.

William gave them the prisoners to a bit of an extra leverage at the negotiations for something else.

Since this victory is primarily due to William and his men naturally they're more than greatful the recive anything at all.

They naturally agrees.

The negotiations progressed onwards.

Piña sat down in Count Formal's seat, since she was representing him. Beside her, Countess Myui sat between her butler and the head maid.

The speaker was Hamilton, but the one who would negotiate, make proposals and make the final decision was Piña herself.

Piña carefully considered her words to make sure of the circumstances. But in a situation like this, what kind of agreement could they come to?

She beckoned Hamilton with a finger, and Hamilton, with bandages on her forehead and the rest of her, came close.

"Ah, Your Highness, you've come to, I was worried."

"Forgive me, I made you worry."

After that, they decided to go through the details again to make sure.

"Hm. Then, I would like to clarify the conditions with you."

Hamilton recited them like she was reading out an epic poem.

"First, they shall cede a few of the prisoners to House Lancelot to take back. They are free to pick them any number and whom ever they desire.

Second, house Formal and Pina Co Lada shall guarantee the safety and lodging of any envoys house Lancelot.

Third, house Formal shall not impose taxes, fines, tolls or tariffs of any kind to upon house Lancelot.

Fourth, any member of house Lancelot may not be charged by any criminality or wrongdoings by house Formal, any personnel of house Lancelot would be under the same protection, unless they got expressed permission from house Lancelot to capture and deal with such individuals.

Fifth, house Lancelot may have free passage throughout house Formal's domain and shall not be hindered in anyway.

Sixth, house Formal is prohibited from taking part in any future military campaigns against house Lancelot.

Seven, house Formal shall allow the construction of a church of the cult imperialis. House Formal may not persecute the believers of the cult imperialis and is also prohibited from hindering the spread of the belief.

Eight, once the treaty goes into effect, the PDF of house Lancelot will not touch the wealth, holdings and personnel of house Formal and have the majority of their forces sent back.

Signed by

Countess Myui Formal

Imperial Princess Piña Co Lada

3rd day of Mist Month, 987 IR"

After reading the contents of the parchment, Hamilton handed it to Piña.

She read it a few times. They had not come off badly. The fourth clause particular is quite disconcerting, but besides that these were actually pretty good terms.

They hadn't asked to cede territories, demand tributes or anything.

Taking care of envoys would be troublesome. However, both were necessary expenses. Indeed, they had gotten off lightly by only paying that much.

The fourth term was a bit hard to swallow as it essentially means that they can't do whatever they want without facing the consequences, but she has reassured that it's there incase for any unjust arrest that arises from misunderstanding.

Hamilton really outdid herself as the terms are not as worst as they could have been.

Piña had confidence in her ability to read people, but Hamilton Uno Ro's negotiating skills were beyond her expectations. How had she managed to make warriors with such incredible fighting power give up their victors' rights? Magic? Or had she used her feminine wiles during the negotiations?

No matter what, if the diplomats heard about this, they would try and headhunt her. Hamilton's negotiation skills would be critical for the knight band.

Piña thought about these things, then signed the end of the parchment, and then put a blob of wax on it before stamping it with her signet ring.

Beside her, Countess Myui signed and stamped it with great formality.

Hamilton rolled out the parchment before Kengun.

After Lelei and Tuka read and confirmed the terms to William, he signed it in high Gothic.

Two copies of the treaty were made.

While they made the second copy, Piña held on to the first.

She wanted to look at William's signature. The elaborate cursive high gothic letters seems very fancy to her.

...

The terms of the treaty took effect immediately, so the William's men march back into their Valkyrie and flew back.

The townspeople took some time out from the post-battle cleanup to watch them soar into the sky in awe of the mystical flying machines.

William had wanted to put more into the treaty like cedeing Italica to house Lancelot, but that would require long term garrisoning, further dividing his already limited number of troops.

He has around 20,000 men in Alnius which squeeze really hard to find. Now a city usually has billions of population and that is true in normal circumstances but certain things happened which the main house drained a significant portion of the population.

So the hivecity is already undermanned as it is and to darft anymore people would severely effect the productivity of the hive city, a thing which William is not very found of as his father would punish him severely if he affected the productivity.

It's for his father to be mad of course as his father would be the one explaining things to the main house, especially in these times of crisis.

While William explain it as a "long term investment" to develop a world, but developing a world usually takes at least centuries.

Hell even Eridium the planet which William will one day rule is still considered in the process of developing, suffice to say developing this new world would not be as important to the crisis beyond the horizon.

Anyway Lelei, Tuka and Rory went to the home of the trader Ryudo to discuss business.

Being exempted from taxes was a huge selling point for any trader, so the girls were welcome by all of them. Things were made even simpler since Master Kato had introduced them previously.

They completed the sale of 200 dragon scales for 4000 silver denarii and 200 gold sinks.

However, actually claiming those 4000 denarii in liquid currency was impossible. Ryudo had tried his best, but House Formal's territory had just been ravaged by bandits and trade in Italica had ground to a halt. In addition, the Empire did not supply its outlying regions with a lot of currency, so obtaining even 1000 denarii would be a big challenge.

In the end, the remaining 2000 was paid in credit guarantees, while the remaining 1000 was written off as a discount. In exchange, however, Lelei asked Ryudo for information.

This information pertained to the markets in the region and beyond, and she requested him to carefully investigate the prices of certain items in various markets.

"Ha" Ryudo laughed as he heard this request.

Unlike the buying and selling of regular citizens, the information on the prices of merchants was an important weapon in price negotiations. No trader would ask so bluntly about them, nor would anyone answer so readily.

However, since Lelei was an outsider, she knew nothing about what things cost. Because she knew nothing, she wanted this information, but broader in scope, with more details, in exchange for the debt owed.

"One thousand silvers, huh." The merchant said as he scratches him chin.

Nobody had ever paid so much for information before, but since a price had been named, it was a sale. And the goods were of a pretty high quality too.

And so, Ryudo agreed to collect the relevant information from all around.


	15. Chapter 14

A group of horsemen raced down the road to the west, heading for Italica.

Above them flew flags emblazoned with red, white and yellow roses. The sound of many galloping hooves thundered beneath them.

Their polished breastplates and helmets reflected gold and silver light, and the waving flags and upraised lances surged forward at great speeds.

The knight at their lead was particularly noteworthy.

She was a spectacularly-dressed female knight whose golden hair swayed in the wind. She lashed her horse repeatedly. Her mount mutely bore the pain and threw itself forward in response.

The countryside flew past the lady knight's eyes, but it was too slow, far too slow. She gripped the reins tighter, and lashed the horse harder.

"Bozes! You're going too fast!"

The woman whose voice was filled with even calmness caught up to the foremost rider.

She was a female knight with chestnut-brown hair. Behind her was a group of mounted warriors, whom she had left behind in her haste to catch up with Bozes.

The lady knight called Bozes replied in a voice like the tinkling of silver bells.

"We're still too slow, Panache!"

"Your horse won't be able to take it, and people in the rear can't keep up with you. If this goes on, we won't be able to fight even if we make it there on time."

"It doesn't matter, our objective is Italica, and the stragglers can catch up later. Time is of the essence now!"

"But..."

"Even if only a few people arrive in the end, there are ways to fight with small groups. The most important thing is to get there is soon as possible, even if it's by just a little."

Bozes had said this much, and Panache could not convince her otherwise. All she could do was follow behind Bozes and convince her to slow down as much as possible.

After Bozes forced herself to loosen the reins and lower her speed, the unit behind her finally managed to catch up a little.

"Panache, will we make it in time?"

"It'll be fine. If it's the Princess, she'll think of a way."

"But..."

It was all Bozes could do to suppress the uneasiness in her heart. Her energies were focused on the road which kept unfolding before her and the tiny point of Italica on the horizon.

Therefore, the first one to notice it was Panache.

"Hm?"

Something was approaching from in front of them.

Although this was supposed to be a major road of the Empire, that meant it had been built long ago and exposed to the elements in the wilderness, and in places it would become very narrow, certainly not big enough for two wagons to fit side by side. If the riders continued like this, they would collide with the people in front of them.

Speaking of which, the entity approaching from in front of them was drawing near with a speed that surpassed their expectations. It looked like a box, and from a distance they could not tell exactly what it was, but it seemed to be a wagon of some sort.

"Bozes!"

"I know."

"The hell you know! Look ahead!"

As Panache's scolding brought her around, Bozes straightened up, clicked her tongue and pulled back hard on the reins.

Panache raised her left hand to signal a halt to the rest of the unit behind her, and she pulled on her reins to stop her horse.

The people behind them were slightly relieved, because they had a chance to give their exhausted mounts a chance to rest. Both man and beast panted heavily, sweating rivers.

"Ahhh, what a pain! Have them make way!"

Just as the knights behind them were about to advance to remove the obstruction, they saw Panache's signal to wait and stayed where they were.

"They came from Italica. I'll check them out and see if they have any useful information."

With that, Bozes slowly urged her horse forward.

Meanwhile

William is sitting outside on top of the turret of the chimera enjoying fresh gentle breeze and the great view. He's in a great mood having his first successful negotiations.

At this time he saw a column of feudal riders that is primarily comprised of pretty woman heading his way.

William ordered his column to stop as jumps dawn from the chimera to talk these pretty ladies to make way for his convoy to pass through.

Unfortunately as he's heading over there to talk, he forgot that this world doesn't have vox so they wouldn't know about the treaty their princess has just signed.

Couple that with his... shall we say less then peferfect grasp at the native language and a few bad dice roll, we have a recipe for disaster.

The situation broke down when he mentioned returning back to Alnus as he had expected them to already know about the treaty.

It isn't all that supervising that they drew their sword and he soon found himself in a situation where a sword edge is gently touching his neck, ready to slit his throat at a moments notice.

While he has the displacer field artefact but it would only work when an individual wearing a Displacer Field emitter is struck by a blow from a melee weapon or fire from a ranged weapon that carries sufficient force.

Keyword is "sufficient force" a blade sliding down your neck unfortunately doesn't fall into that category.

Seeing the blade up against William neck, William's men naturally points their guns at the enemy.

...

There is a brief silence around as both sides looks at each other waiting for the other side to make a move.

At this time William ordered his men in low gothic "retreat! call for reinforcements!"

His men were apprehensive at first before they eventually fallowed his orders and retreated, leaving him to face with the bunch of feudal amazoness.

That evening

The knights had reached Italica at last. Bozes and Panache, relieved after seeing the peaceful streets, decided to report to Piña and apologize for not being able to make it to the battle. However, not only did Piña not blame them for that, but she even praised them for being earlier than expected.

Overjoyed from the praise, Bozes and Panache congratulated Piña on her victory and told her about their encounter with some foreigners who might have been the enemies who had taken over Arnus. They had captured one of them, and they thought Piña would have congratulated them on it, but once they brought him in front of Piña, she had struck them instead.

"You did what?!"

In her rage, Piña flung the silver goblet she was holding.

Bozes, who had proudly brought a prisoner of war with her in anticipation of a commendation, was completely taken aback by that reaction. She was stunned by Piña's anger and the pain in her forehead, and it was only when she felt the warm wetness flowing down her face and saw blood on the finger she used to check it that she realized that she had a cut above her eyebrow.

The blood flowed down her beautiful cheek and dripped off her chin onto the carpet below, before slowly spreading out.

"Y-your Highness, why do you say that? What have we done wrong?"

Panache dabbed at Bozes' wound while begging Piña for mercy. Bozes herself had collapsed on her rump in shock. Then, Hamilton reacted. Rather than shout angrily at them, she sighed deeply.

The two of them did not know why Piña had not only scolded them, but had even thrown a goblet at them.

"We broke the treaty in less than a day, and it just had to be him..."

Hamilton peeked at their prisoner, who was in the corner of the room.

William lay there, his body devoid of strength. His once regal fancy blue coat now torn and tattered, visible evidence of the abused he has suffered.

Hamilton placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him while shouting, "Sir William, Sir William". But William was covered in abrasions and he sported many bruises from being beaten by many people, so his physical and mental stamina was depleted, to the point where he couldn't even answer her.

It was not hard to imagine what had happened to him on the way back here from looking at him.

"Hamilton, how is Sir William?" (Should keep the Japanese honorifics or should I switch it to English)

"It looks like he's been hurt pretty badly, we need to get him care immediately.

Piña summoned the chief maid of House Formal and said, "Sorry, we'll leave him to you". The old maid and butler replied, "Understood", and then the maids came together to form a human wall around Itami. He was transported away in this manner.

After watching Itami leave, Piña fiercely snapped her head back.

She looked just like a demon then, and after slapping Bozes (who was a bit taller than her) square in the face, she began questioning her.

"What on earth did you lot do to Sir William?!"

"We, we just brought him here the way we would a normal prisoner..."

The normal way of treating prisoners, for the Empire, usually involved dragging them behind a horse, and when the prisoners collapsed from exhaustion, they would be poked with spears or lashed with the flat of a blade, forcing them to rise and continue. Even if they did stand, however, they would still be brutalized with fists and feet. In this way, the prisoners would lose the will and strength to resist or flee, and it was also part of the process of breaking them before selling them as slaves.

That is what they would have done to the common soldier but William is Obviously not a common soldier! Which made things much worse!

Piña muttered, "This is bad, this is really bad". She grabbed her head with both hands and shuddered as she tried to suppress the rage running rampant through her body.

If one thought calmly about it, it was not entirely Bozes' or Panache's fault. After all, they had been handling an enemy who had taken over Arnus, and they could not possibly have known Piña had signed a treaty with them.

However, sometimes, unlikely things like this simply happened. The fact was that the PDF had immediately withdrawn from Italica once the treaty took effect. Excuses like "they did not know" or "they were told too late" would not work. After all, the ones who wanted the treaty to take effect immediately had been Piña's side. William had been captured after the treaty took effect , and worse, it had happened within House Formal's domain, where they were guaranteed free passage and William being a member of house Lancelot immune to charges of any wrongdoing.

Now they may have something to argue if he was really doing some heinous but he was just returning to Alnus.

Things were not looking good for the princess, their actions break the treaty. There was no doubt about it.

It was because the Empire did these things often that they felt that house Lancelot would do the same to them.

And they were indeed correct to think so and fortunately for them house Lancelot is currently embroiled in a crisis and doesn't have time to deal with petty squabbles.

Naturally Piña doesn't know that as

a chill ran down Piña's spine thinking of the implications of her subordinate's actions.

The music which rang across the sky and the Valkyries' sneer now echoed inside her ear. She could not help but imagine her knight band, Italica, even the whole Empire, burned to ashes by the flames of hell.

Bozes and Panache, who had learned about the agreement Piña signed with house Lancelot from Hamilton, finally realized what they had done, what William had been trying to say about some treaty.

"William's men should have been there, what happened to them?"

"The ran off just like that."

They had laughed at William because William's subordinates had run off instead of trying to rescue him.

Yes... simply baffling it's not like they got their leader captured or anything.

If they could have taken them all captive at the time, they could have wiped them all out under the pretext of the unit going missing, but if everyone else escaped, that would have been useless. Not that they could have captured them in the first place as they had Rory the Reaper with them.

Not to mention they also got a sword pointed at William's neck which Boze conveniently forgot to mention.

These were the words of Gray Co Aldo, who had been listening quietly from the side of the room.

"William is obviously not of low birth If they found out what happened to William , don't you think that would get them mad enough to attack us?"

"Then we just need to atone for that as well."

"That is, you want me to atone for that, right? But what if the other party asks us to hand over or execute the responsible parties?"

"Well, what else do you want to do? Declare war? These are opponents who ride iron pegasi and have magic that can set the earth ablaze, and then you have the Grim Reaper Rory Mercury to worry about. If it were me, I'd rather not chance that."

Even a hardened veteran like Gray was shaken to the core after seeing those horrible scenes. Piña was steeling herself to undergo any kind of humiliation as long as it would allow her to successfully atone for this.

That might be so, but, there was nobody present who was higher-ranked than her. Piña needed to avoid a situation where she might be forced to forfeit her life after Bozes and Panache admitted their guilt.

The air turned cold and heavy around them.

After a brief silence, Gray attempted to break the tension by saying in a humorous tone, "Well, in the end, the situation depends on what William thinks about it."

In other words, he was telling all the women present to please William by any means possible.

Later at midnight

It was already past midnight. Yet Piña was not in bed, but deep in thought in her office.

There was no way she could sleep if the situation continued to deteriorate like this.

She had not yet decided how to deal with her failures or foolishness, so she could not relax. Frustration and worry tore at her heart as she agonized over what she should do next.

The room that Piña used for her office was once the previous Count Formal's study. The furniture was high quality, featuring items like a heavy, polished desk, a comfortable chair, and the room itself was filled with the fragrance of parchment and ink.

Were these all relics of the previous Count? Things like monocles made from insect chitin, quill pens, a bell to summon the maids, all of these were proudly displayed on the desk. There was a thick stack of tax collection reports on one side of the table, as well as records for land management and tax records, and yes, come to think of it, she still had to send for a good man to help manage the Formal estate. All these were problems Piña was thinking of resolving.

She waggled the quill pen, scrawling several bright ideas on the parchment, crossing them out, writing more ideas down and then cancelling them again.

Underlined on the parchment was: "Is there a way to avoid breaking the treaty?"

However, all of William's men had escaped.

If they did not get completely wiped out between here and Arnus, they would definitely return to base and make a report. There was no reason for them not to.

If she wanted to stop them from making their report, she would have to catch them or kill them.

Question: if she sent pursuers after them, could she capture them?

Answer: No.

With her current battle strength, could she stop these people, who drove off a Flame Dragon?

When she heard they had abandoned their own leader and run off, they seemed like honorless cowards. But in truth, they clearly had the power to annihilate Piña's knights in seconds, so Piña had no idea why they would act so weak. What worried Piña was the suspicion that there was some other reason for it. Paranoia began filling her mind as she began wondering what other schemes her hidden enemies might have in mind for her.

Yet the Princess grabbed her head and muttered, "Don't give up, don't give up".

Piña considered something else. She would not stress herself over an impossible question like this. Instead she would consider how to make up for her previous mistakes and reduce the impact on her side.

War was simply a continuation of diplomacy, and diplomacy was like a game of cards. If one wanted to clash with an opponent with strong cards, there were three strategies. Avoid having one's opponent play his strong cards, induce him to waste his strong cards, or gain strong cards of one's own.

However, these strategies were useless if one did not understand one's opponent, since one could not counter what one knew nothing about. All she could do was keep her opponent from gaining even more strong cards.

We have two strikes against us. First, we guaranteed the free movement of house Lancelot, but we attacked them. Second, we captured William which should be immune to all charges of wrongdoing of any kind.

Like Aldo said, a good idea would be to apologize as quickly as possible. No, that might actually be the best move we could make in that case.

However, Apologies and atonement would be giving the other side a valuable opening to exploit. For example, the idea that they might ask for compensation or other things was the source of Piña's worries and unease. There would be no way they could refuse any demands made by house Lancelot who had such overwhelming fighting power and destructive ability.

Piña was willing to negotiate with house Lancelot because she had seen their power with her own eyes.

However, Piña's authority limited her to being an intermediary. Could the Empire's diplomats understand the terror of these opponents? Would the Emperor and his advisors understand?

Piña was beginning to discover that right now, she alone in the whole Empire knew what they were up against.

In the past, Piña believed that the Empire's hard-line, imperialistic negotiation policy, paired with the threat of their military power, was a reliable strategy. The young diplomats would skilfully debate their counterparts and produce a long list of demands the enemy could not refuse, and in the end they would force the enemy to bend the knee. These scenes had filled her heart with joy.

But if they tried these tactics on house Lancelot...

"My stomach hurts again..."

Piña took out a new sheet of parchment and began a report to her father, Emperor Molt. She wrote that the enemy possessed unprecedented power and fearsome fighting ability, and described everything that she had seen and heard about them. However, halfway through, Piña could not continue writing, and in the end she ended up scratching random lines through the report, even breaking her quill's nib in the process.

"Who would take this fairytale seriously? Not even an idiot would believe it!"

After all, even she could hardly believe what she was writing.

She would worry about the report later. For now, she just wanted to discuss their plans for the future with Hamilton.

"To begin with, we need to decide how to deal with William."

Currently, William was sleeping within this manor.

If he's willing to play dumb and keep quiet, we can cut our losses. No, if it works, we might end up having an ace in the hole instead.

The question then was how to persuade William to shut up. What could they bribe him with? Or perhaps they could use the fact that he was a man to seduce him? Or perhaps, both at once?

But then, there was another question as to who would she charge with that task?

Of course, she had considered handling that part herself. However, William seems to be merely a minor commander of about ten men. Even if he led a special forces unit, in the Empire he would be a centurion at best. (When he's communicating with his men he's using gothic so the natives would naturally no idea what they're talking about as such he would appear to be a minor nobility with command of a squad of men. As nobody would think a prince of a planet would only be leading a band of a dozen men.)(A minor gripe of the author when role playing despite having a ship that houses millions why can I only take a dozen dudes on my adventures!!! I should have FU number of people and throwing cannon fodders everywhere!)

While he is part of house Lancelot but it seems that he is only from a minor side branch and a very distant relative of the house Lancelot proper.

A lowly commander like him was certainly not worth her body. The gift of an Imperial Princess would be reserved for a higher-ranked person.

Then, who should go?

Hamilton might be suitable for the task. She had experience with men, and should be skilled with them. However, she was an important consultant for Piña, and if the needed time for interaction dragged on too long, it would be too late to regret her choice. So Hamilton was out.

As she thought further, the names of Bozes and Panache appeared in her mind.

Since they had created this mess in the first place, it was only fitting that they take care of it.

More to the point, the two of them were very suited to this sort of work. As for why that was the case, it was obviously because of their looks. Bozes' hair looked like it had been spun from pure gold, and she was a highborn daughter of Marquis Palesti.

Panache was the daughter of Baron Kalgi, and though she was not of higher social rank than Bozes, she had fearsome eyes, and the combination of her presence and looks was unbeatable. If she used the two of them as a honeytrap, no man on earth should be able to resist them.

Although it was a waste to use them on a small fry like William, when she considered the severity of the situation, a lineup like this was necessary.

Piña decided not to worry about the final question as to whether the two of them had the necessary personality for such a task. She had already decided it was a perfect plan and was determined to carry it out. In any case, deciding to give the necessary orders made her feel a little safer.

And so, Piña rang the bell on the desk.

To calm herself, she sipped some of the fragrant tea. In that moment, the candles flickered in a small breeze.

A maid suddenly appeared from somewhere outside of Piña's field of vision, lifting her skirt with both hands in order to curtsy with a slight flexing of her knees. Piña accepted the gesture of respect with a regal nod.

"Your Excellency, what do you wish of this one?"

"Mm, go bring Bozes and Panache over."

"But they are sleeping, milady."

"Never mind. Wake them up.

"Then I will go now."

The maid left the study with those words, and Piña rose from her seat. While she waited for them to show up, she tidied up the desk. In particular, she tore up the piece of parchment which contained less than flattering remarks about Panache and Bozes.

...

At this point in time, Bozes, under Piña's secret orders, had arrived at William's door, with a pained expression on her face.

Nock nock

"Come in"

As she received permission she took a deep breath and exhaling to relieve her tension. She then gather up her courage to open the door and enters the room.

What happened next will be left to your imaginations. (As my writing is so shit that I can't do these things right, so might as well leave them to your "Im-ma-gin-nation" with a SpongeBob voice)


	16. Chapter 15

The next day

As the morning sun rises, birds starts to cherp and every starts waking up.

However what disturbed what otherwise peaceful morning is an army of riders right outside of Italica's gate.

These riders wore armor that bore distinct resemblance to the armor worn by the men in gray, only they're much better armor having pauldrons and tasset to protect the shoulders and thighs.

Besides that their mounts seems to of higher quality as well. The huge bulky size speaks much of this fact and that's not mentioning the clawed hoofs on these horse, looking at then really speaks much of the savageness these horses could bring to the battlefield.

Another curious thing about these mounts is that they seems to be wearing a masks of some kind.

Seeing these riders adorned is neat armor on their high horse in neat formation is really quite intimidating.

Naturally the centuries quickly ran back to inform the princess.

The princess naturally startled as she didn't think that the enemy would react so fast, so she immediately calls in servants to wake William up and bring him to her.

A while later after William finally got dress he along with Boze came in front of Piña.

"what reason did you summon for?"

Piña was about explain the situation to him but before she could do that the door slams open...

Slam

What came walking in is a rider followed by Lelei to do the translating.

Looking at the rider William opened his mouth and greets him "ah... Elliot you're finally here"

"Sir are you alright?" the rider replies making sure his lord is alright. He is after all is William's favored lieutenant and the one William's father tasked to be responsible for William's protection when he goes on in his little Crusades of his.

William sweep a gaze at Pña then at Boze before he replied "yes... I'm fine we just had a... Miscommunication"

At this Piña steps in and asked

"Do you mind introducing us?"

"Well... He's the leader of my personal guard"

William's reply shocked Piña greatly.

"but... but I thought you were the commander of the party you came here with"

Piña said in a shaky voice as the Imperial Princess now felt like she had swallowed a burning stone, given the scorching pain in her abdomen, it seems she has miscalculated William's significance. As no minor noble could have a few hundred well armed riders as personal guards. He must be from a duke's house.

"oh them? They're just a random scouting force I took command to look around in this new realm as Eliot and my personal guard got caught up dealing with a few minor pest back home"

After William finishes explaining Eliot speaks up as he brings forth a matter of great importance "Sir your father the governor summons you to his chambers"

Hearing this William froze for a bit as a few beads of sweat forms on his forehead.

Meanwhile Lelei at the side explained the situation to the Princess.

"His father the... Ruler of the realm summons him and must return immediately"

Lelei struggled a bit as she tried to find the right words. Her translation used a slightly different word, and thus the meaning changed.

In her mind planet=realm and governor=ruler.

Meanwhile Piña came to the conclusion realm=land and ruler=king.

When she realized this fact It wasn't just her stomach which hurt. Piña grabbed her head, which felt like it was going to explode. This was beyond expectations as it turned out that William's identity is in no way inferior than her's.

She suddenly felt a sense of urgency as she asked to confirm "rule... Ruler of the realm?"

Lelei then replies "William is next in line to rule the realm of Eridium"

When Piña heard this, she had a look on her face much like an ancient terran painting called "The Scream".

To think we upset such an important person... if this gets worse, the Empire is doomed, I have to think of something quickly...

At that moment, Piña instantly made a decision.

She clenched her fists and rose forcefully to express her determination.

"Then, allow me to accompany you!"

...,

Since his father has summoned him William does have the luxury to dilly dally around and wait Piña and her followers to slowly catch up with them on their slow horse.

A kriegan won't is obviously much much more superior than your average Terran equine. They have much better stamina being able to run for hours long at much higher speeds, and that's just some of its advantage.

So William said "Only you and one other follower are allowed to ride in the chimera with us" as the limited space in the chimera would only permit such.

Piña's response was to assign Bozes and Panache to Italica's security, while Hamilton would liaise with and act as the representative for House Formal. She announced that "I will go myself" in a determined, confident manner.

However, they could not let their Princess walk alone into the enemy camp. Bozes and Panache were arguing over who would get to accompany her, and Piña finally selected Bozes to follow her. After hurriedly packing their things, they boarded the chimera.

With the chimera's high speeds, they swiftly made it to Arnus.

The scenery there was no longer familiar to Piña and Bozes.

What had once been a bare hill was now a fortress.

A flight of three vultures on a training mission greeted Piña, as they turned overhead while flying a nap-of-earth course. Their powerful turbojets created a mighty gust that seemed like it was going to sweep the surface clean.

Williams convoy drove down the newly-built road among the flying sand and dust

After passing a few sign post which says "warning you're entering territory of house Lancelot", they now officially entered the territory controlled by house Lancelot.

They had just entered a large open desert field at the very edge of house Lancelot territory, which was used as a training and practice area. At the same time, it was a boneyard for numerous wyvern corpses, as well as where the children of Coda Village's refugees went to work.

The first thing Piña saw was a small patrol of horse mounted PDF riders doing their routine walk.

The moment they saw William's column they quickly stepped aside and saluted. The waited until William's column passes before the continues on what they were doing.

The speed of the vehicles left them far behind, but before Piña could turn to watch them, long moats dug into the ground came into view.

There are also large formats of men seems to be conducting some sort of exercise as they rush in and out of the moat.

Initially, Piña had no idea what these troopers were up to.

In the Special Region, the most common form of attack was having infantry or cavalry charge into close quarters with the enemy while shouting "Waaaaagh!" or some other bloodcurdling battlecry. (wrong race for such tactic)

Once contact was made, it was every man for himself. They would strike down the enemy before them with blades, spears or shield bashes. Unlike the barbarian tribes on the frontier, the Imperial Army did not allow their legionaries to fight by themselves. Instead, their centurions would maintain order and rotate out the men on the front line of the formation to the rear as they got tired. Their enemy would fight until they got tired and then they would be cut down, but the Imperial Army would always have their freshest troops in the frontline, while their tired and wounded would recuperate in the rear.

This basic combat tactic remained the same whether they fought on open plains or dense city streets. The commander's job was to raise the men's fighting spirit, train their fighting skills, and lead them to victory over the enemy.

However, the PDF were different. They did not use shields, nor did they form a dense testudo formation. They would jump out to sprint, halt and drop prone. They were a closely-knit, well oiled machine that switched between stillness and motion with a fluid grace.

At the same time, they were raising metal staves in all directions. They looked like hedgehogs. (practising solid square formation for anti-air fire)(it like that doctrine from the kingdom Dacia from the anime youjo senki only this time is effective as their enemies are giant flying lizards who could only attack in melee)

What on earth are they doing? Piña tilted her head as she thought, but could not find an answer.

"They're all holding staves. Could it be that all the soldiers in the Pee Dee Effu are mages? If that's the case, is that the secret of their power?"

Bozes answered Piña's question with a question of her own, "But mages are rare, since magic is a special ability. Then, does that mean house Lancelot can produce mages in large quantities?"

Piña could imagine how those staves could strike down the enemy with beams of searing light. After that, she understood what the Pee Dee Effu were training for; their movements were calculated to conceal themselves and respond to the enemies' movements.

Even if they were ambushed from dark corners, even if they were being attacked by wyvern riders, even if they were flanked from both sides by Imperial cavalry, before enemy troops could close the distance to the Pee Dee Effu, they would be shredded by their fire-staves.

"No, these metal staves are not magic. In their language, they are weapons which are called 'guns', or "small arms'."

From the side, Lelei denied Bozes' answer.

"The Pee Dee Effu uses these guns as the basis of their fighting ability. In order to make full use of their guns in combat, they have trained and developed their skills to this level."

"Yes. The principle is simple too. They enchant a piece of lead with explosive magic, seal it within a metal tube, and then they let the lead fly free."

While inspecting the piles of wyvern corpses on the battlefield, she had found many huge holes in the bodies. A closer inspection of their shattered scales revealed lead chunks and other fragments. Working backward from there, Lelei had deduced the mechanism of firearms by careful analysis of what she had seen, heard and learned.

Piña's vision suddenly blurred as she heard this. "So it's not magic, but a weapon? So since humans can make these weapons, they can distribute them to all of their soldiers?"

"Exactly. They can arm every soldier with these guns."

"If that's the case, then obviously the way they wage war would be different. No matter how many men with spears or swords we raised, their numbers would be useless in the face of an enemy who fought like this."

"Yes. This is why the Imperial Army and the Coalition Army were defeated."

Not far from them, a chimera appears. The rear hatch opened, disgorging a number of fully-armed and equipped men.

The soldiers who rushed out of the vehicle swiftly formed a neat firing line, their weapons pointed at imaginary opponents.

In this moment, Piña could vividly imagine cavalry and infantry being gunned down in their ranks, and she furrowed her brows in anxiety.

"Too slow! Move your asses faster! Again!"

In response to their commander's rebuke, the PDF troopers got back onto the chimera. Piña could not help but think "So there's a huge difference even from their basic fighting styles". Unlike the fear which had been deeply engraved into her soul in Italica, she was afraid because she could now understand her opponent, and it frightened her.

She turned to look inside the chimera she's riding, and she saw William and his men holding the non-magical weapons they called "guns". If they were weapons, even Piña or Bozes should be able to use them if they got their hands on one of them.

If they could fully understand these weapons and obtain them, then at least future battles would not be one-sided slaughters like what had happened previously. Piña understood the importance of this. Her aim now was to obtain these weapons and pass them on to the best craftsmen she could find, and force them to make more, at any cost.

As though reading Piña's thoughts, Lelei quietly chimed in from the side as if reading her mind.

"That would be pointless."

Lelei pointed outside, through another of the vehicle's windows.

On the open ground opposite them, something that looked like a cross between a crazed elephant and a block of metal was thundering toward them. It was a mighty baneblade leading a pack of chimedons.

Form a distance it looked like a mother goose leading her chicks, cute as it might seems right now but it won't be all that cute when you're face to face against those monstrosities.

'so father is busting out the big guns' William thought.

"When they say 'small arms', they mean that these weapons are small guns. So that means that there should be 'big guns' as well." Lelei continues

They looked at the pack of tanks lead by the mighty baneblade as they turned their turrets, Piña and Boze eyes landed on the large barreled cannons on these mighty machines.

"if... If those spit fire..."

Piña's thoughts were the same as Bozes' murmured words. She realized that this cannon was the so called "rod of iron" which the refugees of Coda Village told her about.

"I have not seen it fire myself, but I do not doubt that it can do so."

No blacksmith in the Empire could make such a thing. And it was not just the Empire, but nobody on the continent could build things like that. It probably would not make a difference whether she searched among the underground world of the elves or among the master craftsmen of the dwarves. It was a monster from another world, and she could fully believe that it could defeat a Flame Dragon.

Iron pegasi. Iron elephants. What was this PDF, this force that could produce these things in such great numbers?

Why did we even attack them in the first place?

In response to Piña's quiet mutterings, Lelei replied:

"The Empire has trod on the griffin's tail."

"You, you... don't talk like it doesn't concern you! The Empire is in a crisis for survival, how can you speak so easily about it?"

Bozes angrily grabbed Lelei's shoulder, and in return she received an even more hateful answer.

"I am of the Rurudo Clan. The Empire's well-being has nothing to do with me."

The Rurudo were a nomadic people. Although Lelei had settled down near Coda Village, she and her people had never had any particular opinion about the Empire.

Tuka, who had been listening but did not have a chance to cut in, rushed to raise her hand and say, "Yes, I'm an Elf!"

"..."

Rory remained silent. She did not need to say anything, and simply smiled.

The Empire had made the Allied Kingdoms bend their knees and ruled over its citizens with force.

The Emperor did not expect his subjects to love, respect, or do anything but fear him.

The Empire's policy of conquest, suppression and rulership through violence had led to the present situation, despite its dominance over them, it did not have the loyalty of its subjects.

It was only now that Piña realised the rebellious opinion of its subjects, whom they didn't care much about.

...

Piña was brought to Arnus Hill, she was welcomed to a nice fancy room with lavish decorations. Such lavishness that made her an imperial princess felt extravagant.

Every single part of the room is decorated to the utmost extreme, as each and every single inch of the walls have carvings on them depicting some mythical story.

Lavish chandelier hung from above illuminating the room. Paintings with carved golden frames hung on the walls.

Piña and Boze are quite speechless at vast incalculable wealth house Lancelot possess.

They took a seat at the incredibly comfortable red couch. Even the table seemed very luxurious as the carvings on its edge and legs are quite detailed. It must have been the work of a renowned craftsman.

As they were examining the various exquisite objects in the room, a knocking came from the outside.

Piña and Bozes practically jumped at the sudden interaction.

The man who entered is an old man.

His hair is all white signifying his old age, he had a warm smile on his face. He seemed gentle enough, but there was a hint of... Slyness within that kindness.

The man wore a uniform not to dissimilar to a butler. (if I remember correctly a seneschal is basically a butler with secret service training)

Right around this time Lelei entered the room, standing beside the old man to help him translate.

"Greetings I'm Folke a seneschal of house Lancelot and will be responsible for taking over the negotiations in Lord William's stead" the old man said as he bowed with courtesy. Folke is also the father of William's attendant Fredrick.

Folke has just recently returned along with William's father from the main house and they now have to deal with this whole mess.

"seneschal?" Piña asked as she's not familiar with the word.

Folke then courteously gave her a basic run dawn of his job duties being Master of ceremonies, master of coin and commerce, master of logistics and master of emissaries.

Folke with held being a master of spies as that would put the Princess on alert.

Lelei dutifully translated the what the old man said giving Piña the general understanding.

They then took a seat as they began their discussion.

"I believe we signed a treaty earlier, but what happened to bring Your Highness here in person?" Folke asked with a gentle tone like from your friendly grandpa pretending to know nothing, but he already read the report from the recon team and knows full well what they have come here for.

"The truth is, due to carelessness on our part, a misunderstanding occurred. We deeply regret the events which followed, and we hope you will forgive us our trespasses."

"I've already seen the report. Did some accident take place then?"

"Yes. I am ashamed that it happened."

"Is that so? Although, we wish for your Highness to continue being an intermediary between us and the Empire. If the events that have caused you such grief require it, we can also reconsider the terms of the treaty." At this time old Folke is beginning to show his fangs.

"No, no, actually..." at the mention renegotiating the treaty Piña immediately fell into panic as she knows well that the empire couldn't possibly win a war against house Lancelot.

"I've met with lord William. May I ask why is he severely injured?"

Halfway through Lelei's translation, Piña and Bozes were already sweating bullets.

"I confess, while he didn't say anything but reports stated that he didn't have those injuries after the battle and it is only after you captured him that he ended with these injuries. Did he do anything distasteful to either of you?" The atmosphere of the friendly grandpa is now full dissipated and that smile on his face looked like that of a snake, whose about to have his meal.

"..."

Piña could barely squeeze out a response as she stares at the horrifying predator before her.

...

William was at the base and as soon as he returned to Alnus, he began settling various accounts as he makes his preparations to return back to Eridium and meet his father.

At this moment, there was a knocking from the door.

When William looked outside, he ssaw and saw Lelei waiting in the darkened hallway.

"It's pretty late, what's the matter with you?"

Lelei was able to translate various documents into Gothic, so she had been temporarily employed as a "specialist" As a result, she could come and go freely within the base. In order to avoid being mistaken for a random yahoo that wondered into the base, she wore her identification pass hanging around her neck and came here while carrying her basket.

"I'm tired and lost, Send me back to the camp."

With that, she tossed her staff aside and sat down. Lelei was not the type to easily show her emotions and she was a good girl used to enduring hardship. For her to actually show weakness by saying "I'm tired" meant that she must have been exhausted. After all, interpreting for Folke and Piña must have been very draining.

Folke even complimented of the girl's usefulness and it's one of the few good points he has achieved in this world.

So he'll be nice to her and shoo her off.

As the camp where she lived was a pretty long distance away from here and calling people to bring her back would be a bad things.

He can't trust the PDF to not manhandle her and just toss her into her room, that would most evidently leave a bad impression, especially for someone as helpful as her.

So he lent her his bed while he continues on to finish filling the various paper work.

Not long after he fell asleep on his desk.

...

The next day

William stood in front of the gate as he stares at black portal ahead.

He sights and bravely walks forward.

Behind him is Lelei, Tuka, Rory, Piña, Boze, Elliot and a few armed guards.

Last night William thought about the various reactions his father would have and he has prepared various counters arguments for any points that might be raised against him. He brought them along to help him make his case.

William gave one last look at the new world before turning back forward and walked through the gate without hesitation.


	17. Chapter 16

Piña and Boze followed William through the gate and what awaited them is a strange world.

A world grim dark world filled with pipes, stone walls and smoke. (this is the lower hive and i'd imagine the smallest building would be equivalent to a mega block in judge dredd.)

The walls stretches as far as the eye could see, right before a layer of smoke blocks further vision up. They're right now at the foot of some megastructure larger than anything they have seen, larger that anything they ever thought possible.

A structure so large that it stretches further than the eye could see, it's so large that it made them feel small, insignificant and alone.

It's a dark smokey place, one that makes them feel that they're at the bottom of a canyon made of stone. (its like the feeling you get in that canyon in the movie King Kong, that level of smoke and deepness feels just right for the lower hive.)

On the topic of grand structures, Piña and Bozes considered the Imperial Palace, the Senate building, and various other military strongholds to be quite impressive, so to them, even walking down the lower hive must have struck them dumb with a sheer overwhelming pressure.

Having a tall building among regular buildings would only make the tall building stand out more.

Because of that, from Piña's point of view, a capital city should be planned so that there would be an awe-inspiring structure standing in the middle. However, the city on the other side of the "Gate" was different. All its the building was massive beyond comparison.

If there were a single giant tree, one might still be at peace when looking at it from underneath. However, a forest of giant trees would inflict an enormous pressure on those beneath it, now think of a giant forest of trees whose top is beyond sight and reach, one might start to doubt one's own existence.

Standing there, Piña's and Bozes' hearts were deeply shaken by the sights before them.

Of course, they were not the only two affected by it. Lelei, Tuka and Rory were staring with eyes wide open, oblivious to the smokes of the lower hives.

Right now they stood at a large plaze of sort with armed guards and rows of armored vehicles standing watch securing the area.

All of the alternative entrances and passageway has already been welded shut, leaving only one main entrance to access the gate.

A contingent of armed guards and armored vehicles is a natural of course, as this is the lower hive where the undesirables of the underhive occasionally visits.

'is this the world they came from' Piña thought as she coughed at the smoke of this place.

William noticing their gaze naturally knows what they're thinking.

"don't worry about it we're just at the lower hive, things will be better once we get to the upper spire"

They nodded as they meekly followed behind William.

Once they stepped inside and the door shuts they began to feel the elevator beginning to move at an incredible speed.

At some point Bozes started clinging to William's arm.

Meanwhile Piña was not clinging to someone like Bozes, but she stood stock-still beside William, her nerves all wound up. But if there were a loud sound and a power stoppage, she would probably shriek and tightly hug William.

Before they stepped inside the elevator they were still aboveground as they could still dimly see light beyond the layers of smoke above. When the elevator started to move, it gave Piña a huge shock. She could not calm down no matter how people tried to explain things to her. After all, this might have well been the most shocking experience in Piña's life to date. The elevator's lights were bright, but outside the window she could only see jet black darkness. she had no idea where they were headed while William reassured them that they were headed up but it fells like the were headed dawn.

The black window is not convincing her otherwise, as surely at this point they should be seeing light outside. She could feel the cabin having already moved quite the distance for a moment ago.

Asking her not to worry in these circumstances was an impossible task.

As everyone stood in this eerie silence the alams of the old elevator suddenly ring.

Bonk

William hit the speaker and the alarm stopped.

"rusty old thing" William commented as the access hatch to this part has rarely been use so it naturally fallen to disrepair.

The noise frightened Rory so badly that her body was trembling uncontrollably. She nervously reached a tiny hand out and tightly clutched William's sleeve.

"What, what's wrong?" William frowns

Was Rory frightened like Piña was? However, there seemed to be a fundamental difference between Piña and Bozes' discomfort, and Rory's abject terror.

"The, the underground is Hardy's domain"

'more heathen nonsense' William thought as he plays along with the little girls imagination.

"Hardy? Is he a friend?"

"He's bad news. If we met him here, I'd be snatched away to become his wife. Hardy's been like that since 200 years ago, always, always, always, always..."

As she said that, Rory squeezed William's sleeve with her own even more rightly.

Her right hand was holding her canvas-wrapped halberd. Although he was not too sure what she was on about, this "god" called Hardy seemed to frighten Rory into a child-like state.

'Feudals' William thought as he sighs

It didn't take long before the glass started to shine light as the elevator reached pass the middle hive.

At this time occupants of the cabin finally sees the true scope of the structure they're in.

Towers upon towers reaching far up into the sky, the unique gothic architecture and the spike tops is really quite a sight to see.

From below they felt an overwhelming pressure and as if standing in the shadow of a giant, From the top they're feeling the awe and grandeur at such a magnificent city.

They know this place was large but never in their wildest imagination that the size they thought it was would pale in comparison to the sheer immensity of what they're currently seeing.

_Piña, Boze, Tuka, Rory and Lelei opened their eyes wide in astonishment. They're currently in city that's beyond any city they've ever seen... No beyond all the cities they have ever seen combined... No beyond all the cities on the continent combined and that's still quite an under statement._

_Seeing them like this made William laughed._

_"quite nice isn't it?" _

_They nodd still haven't snapped out of it yet._

_It didn't take long of the elevator to reach the top._

_"we've reached our destination" William said out loud drawing everyone's attention._

_As soon as the door opens they were yet greeted by a scene that stunned them._

_If Piña and Boze thought that little guest room was lavish and extravagant, then what would they think of an entire section of the hive like that._

_Clean marble tiles, golden statues everywhere and lavish decoration at every inch. This place is lavish beyond belief and is practically Paradise!_

_"this... Are we at the kingdom of the gods?" Boze commented as she said in disbelief._

_William treated is as if nothing and continues on._

_"well what are you waiting for?" William said as he gestures for them to follow._

_They simply followed behind him absentmindedly as they looked at the various objects and golden statues around._

_This is way beyond what Piña has expected as the Empire doesn't stand a chance at all from the very beginning, even if the empire is give a hundred... No even a thousand years to prepare the empire will still be no match against them._

_Piña is now feeling ridiculous at her earlier notion of defeating house Lancelot. Judging by the size of this city alone could house the entire population of the empire and more, if they really wanted too house Lancelot could easily raise an army of a million strong and with each one of them being arm with these "guns"..._

_The mere thought of it gave Piña the shivers._

_William lead them through the well decorated streets to a central plaza of sorts with a giant golden statue of the Emperor in the middle._

_The giant statue naturally drew everyone's attention _

_"who is that?" Piña asked_

_"thats the God-Emperor" Lelei answered as she has been studying a bit of the Imperium's culture._

_"God-Emperor?"_

_"According to the teachings of the cult Imperialis he was a great figure that lead humanity out from a chaotic Era called the Age of Strife some 10,000 years ago, he went on to reunite humanities scattered domains creating the Emperium that rules over a million realms which house Lancelot is affiliated to, he__ is said to be still alive above the golden throne on Holy Terra the realm which mankind originates"_

_"still alive? But..." the Princess was about to say something but she then looked at Rory whose 900 years old made her shut her mouth._

_"Still is quite hard to believe an Emperor the ruled for 10,000 years. __More than that an imperium that rules over a million realms? " Piña said_

_"Surely they jest." Boze expressed her disbelief._

_They continues on until they reached William's place, it was nice and fancy as befitting of a planetary governor._

_The servants and guards around immediately greeted William upon his return, he then handed his guests to the servants which they would be brought to the guest room to stay._

_The guest rooms were needless to say as like everything at the upper hive lavish to the extreme._

_With his guests taken care off William then went to see his father._

_William stepped into his father's office and is greeted by his father sitting on his chair leaning forward. The light from his back casted a strong shadow over his face making is hard to see his facial expressions, making quite intimidating. (think of the council guy from xcom) _

_"you summoned me father?"_

_"yes, I summoned you regarding the things that had happened during my absence"_

_William has already prepared for this and first stated that production remains unchanged, he then began telling him of the various achievement he made and the plans he has for the future._

_His father sat patiently for him to make his case until the end of it._

_"so that's how I plan to integrate this world" William finished as he puts a smile on his face._

_Vladimir clasped his hands but remains silent as he stares at his son, seeing the bruising on William's face._

_"You're injured" he said causing William to flinch _

_"Oh this? This is just a minor scratch I received at the other world." William pretends to be nonchalant as if it doesn't exist. William is a man of his word after all, as he has received compensation he naturally must stick to his end of the bargain._

_Not to mention if his father gets involved then he might never be able to go out on his adventures ever again._

_Seeing his son not making a big deal about, he doesn't press further. His father looks at William and sighs before opening his mouth._

_"The servants told me that you've brought guests"_

_Obviously William can't tell his father that they're part of his rouge trader party, so..._

_"They're my new servants I recruited on the other side. One is serves as translator, one is a rare-breed of ab-human with a long lifespan and one is girl with the strength of an ogryn."_

_He didn't say anything about thier ability to use some sort of sorcery or the fact that they're heretics, William is pretty sure he can convert them and everything will be alright._

_"I also brought in a fuedal princess the otherside of the gate whom I believe after seeing great our hivecity is and being able to enjoy luxuries she never thought possible would be cooperative in the annexation of the other world"_

_William finished explaining and waited for his father to respond._

_Vladimir looks at his son closely before he opened his mouth and said._

_"The main house is currently embroiled in battle with an ork threat, they have joined forces with a few rouge trader houses within the sector in dealing with this ork menace before it grows out of hand..."_

_He goes on to explain priorities for the war with orks ranks higher over the conquest of a new world don't expect additional manpower until the war is over and w__ith that he was dismissed._

_Seems that he gets to continue on what he's doing.. for now at least._

_..._

_William exited his father's chamber._

_William is quite shooked at how it turned out as had expected to run in quite a resistance, still one mustn't question the emperor's blessing and he happily accepts it._

_With that matter sorted out he happily heads back to see how's everyone doing, and they seems to be doing fine... for the most part. They seems to be quite disturbed by the servo skulls and cherub flying around in the upper Hive._

_Lelei demanded what the in her words "flying bone heads" or the " dead winged babies" were_

"They're servo-skulls and cherubs they function as... a sort of flying eyes that watches the hive for any decedents. If any are found they would alert the guards and the dissident would be dealt with accordingly" they have more functions than that but he didn't go on to the details.

"is that necromancy?" Lelei asked

Rory seems to be also quite curious at these flying skulls.

William frowns and said " No they're simply human skulls out fitted with a few cybernetic components" seeing that Lelei has a face full of question marks at the word cybernetic, William said another word she knows "machine" before he continues "that enables them to fly"

At this time Piña speaks up in alarm "human skull?!"

"Yes, they are fashioned from the skulls of loyal pious servants. This is so that they may continue their work after death. To have one's skull chosen to serve as a Servo-skull is a great honour, for it implies one's service in life has been satisfactory enough to warrant continuation beyond death." William explains while everyone else has a strange look on their face. To them it's pretty much the same as desecrating the dead.

William then gave them a brief tour of the upper hive before taking them a luxurious restaurant to eat.

But before that William took them to a clothing store for some formal wear as they obviously can't go in to a high class establishment dress like that.

"There are a lot of people here. Could this be a marketplace?"

"Ah, look at that dress..."

Piña and Bozes were whispering a conversation to each other.

Even the clothes Piña and Boze were considered... barely acceptable wear, which is quite humiliating for them.

But upon seeing how lavishly everyone on the street is dress, they're more or less have to agree.

William brought to a clothing store with a good reputation and called a female attendant. He handed Tuka to her saying "Get her a formal-looking set of clothes, that's easy to wear and move"

"Ye... yes Lord" the female attendant naturally know who William is and diligently gave Tuka luxurious dress that's easy to wear.

They said that it's the clothes that makes the man but it's the dress that makes the woman. As as soon as she came back out Tuka (minus the ears) has been transformed to looked like the daughter of a upper hive noble.

"Rory, Lelei, do you want to wear something more formal too?"

Rory walked one full turn around the store, looking at both male and female fashions, before declining. "I'm not really interested in these clothes. Besides, this is my priestess' formal wear." She saids that but she would occasionally look at the gothic ballroom dress.

Lelei replied, "No need." Unlike Rory, she seemed completely uninterested in new clothings.

Then he turned to Piña and Boze.

They were currently wearing Feudal nobles' clothing, suitable for feudal semi-formal events.

Those clothes were made of very "high-quality" (by Feudal standards), hand-stitched silk, designed for use in feudal garden parties or mounted activities.

As nice as they might look unfortunately it's not going cut it in the upper hive.

"Get them one too" William ordered as the female atttendants quickly dragged Piña and Boze away.

"Wha.."

"Wai.."

A few moments later they came back dressed in something much suitable for ladies.

Soon he took them to the restaurant, guard at the door wanted to block Rory and Lelei but seeing as who they're following the guard naturally knows it's best for his career to shut up and let them in.

They were brought to luxurious VIP room with a nice view of the city below.

Seeing as his guests doesn't know anything on the menu he ordered in their stead.

He ordered simple three course meal as this place is a high class establishment so a three course meal is pretty much a minimum, as they usually serve a six course meal as an average.

William highly doubt that the feudals would be cultured enough for a six course meal instead settled for a simple three course one instead.

First, they're served with soups and salads, Devil fish soup and Fruit salad. William naturally very considerate and thinks that his guests would understand the joys of eating leafy greens... well.. granted he too doesn't understand what's so delicious about essentially over priced grass.

'Since nobody likes it might as well switch it out' he thought

At the dishes were being handed out the server explains the ingredients of the dishes "this here is the Devil fish soup made from the tentacles of the multi tentacular monster called the devil fish that could only be found on the deepest parts of the ocean"

Hearing that Piña and Boze stared at the floating tentacles on the orange coloured soup, thinking what kind of monstrosity it was before it was cutted up and served. (Since this is based on Japanese novel let's just say they're thinking of some tentacular nonsense)

While they didn't say anything but William naturally knows what they're thinking, as he took a spoon scooped one of the floating tentacles in his bowl of soup and ate it.

Following William's example is Tuka as she took scoops one of the tentacles into her mouth before she munches on them.

She tasted it for a bit.

Mmmm!

Seemingly liking the taste she hurried up and scoops another spoon full into her mouth.

The rest soon followed suit, the fruit salad on the side is naturally quickly cleared out.

Once they're done the main course arrives considering Ambull steaks, Grox ribs, roast Boar and a few minor side dishes.

The server then took turn introducing each of the dishes and their ingredients "This here is an Ambull steak, it's made from a creature called an Ambull a massively built, roughly humanoid creature with an insect-like armoured carapace and oversized arms tipped with iron-hard claws.

The species originated from the deserts of a distant dead realm, due to the intense heat from their sun the Ambull lived in deep underground caverns, far from the scorching heat of thier sun.

This creature is known to burst out of the ground upon their prey and smash with their huge arms, devouring flesh with their great, razor-edged mandibles.

This fine specimen here is especially imported off realm"

Hearing the description made Piña and Boze shudder. They can't believe the people here actually eats monsters! Judging form the server's description a single one of these Ambull could singlehandedly defeat a platoon of men.

Rory smiled as she wonders what fighting one of these Ambull would like.

Lelei eyed curiously at the Ambull more curious at the world it lived than the

creature itself.

"Here we have Barbequed Grox ribs. The Grox is a large, fast and aggressive reptilian animal. The Grox is the most common type of livestock animal throughout the Imperium.

Now don't let the commonality fool you these five meter long creatures are quite ferocious and would charge at anything they see even other grox.

Naturally this fine establishment won't just serve any Grox, as the Grox on your table carefully selected from the most vicious of them all. Their heightened aggression giving their meat a unique flavorful taste"

This revelation shocked Piña and Boze.

The cattles of this place are five meter long ferocious lizards! The Empire is quite familiar with raising dangerous lizards as flying mounts even so such an andover is usually quite expensive and dangerous, it's in no way common. Hell even the idea of rating wyvern as livestock is simply wasteful to the extreme.

Saying that once they got a taste of the food changed their mind completely as the taste is... Simply otherworldly.

Even before they took a bite the aroma drifting into their nostrils is already causing their mouth to water. The moment they took their first bite, they felt the soft tender texture of the meat

'is this even meat?!' Piña thought as the moment she chewed on the meat, all the flavor locked with in came gushing out overloading her taste buds.

Seeing their exaggerated reactions for simply eating Ambull meat especially infront the servants around made William feel quite embarrassed.

'feudals' he thought as he sighs

After everyone has had their fill, here comes the final course the deserts.

They were given platter of mini cakes to choose from.

Everyone except William is confused as far as they're concerned the mini cakes looked more like an ornament then food.

"look at these beautiful ornaments, why did they present these exquisite ornaments to us?" Boze whispered to Piña.

Piña also wondered why, she thinks that this must be a strange culture of theirs.

Seeing their confusion at a bunch of cakes made William's brow twitch as he made his move first to set an example.

He picked a mini cake with a luxurious design and set it on his plate, then he proceeded to cuts a small piece with a knife and fork (he's a barbarian after all) before putting it into his mouth.

Seeing what William did everyone had a Eureka moment, they realize that what they had assumed were ornaments were actually food!

They followed his lead and picked one of Cakes on the plater.

"Ah.."

Boze couldn't help but moan the moment she put the first piece into their mouth as the sweetness overwhelms Her.

After letting out a moan she immediately blushes and quickly covers her mouth in embarrassment.

Meanwhile Piña showed a bit of restraint in not moaning out loud as she covers her mouth.

Lelei still keeping her dead pan expression but uttered the word "sweet"

"It's sweet!" Tuka on the other hand didn't have such reservations as she said what's in her mind.

Rory on the other hand seemed delighted by the sweets as she takes another cake on the platter.

As they were busy noming on the cakes Piña talked to William about something she considers important.

"Pirnce William might I ask you for a favour" Piña asked as she now addresses him cordially and respectfully.

Her perception of him turned 180 the moment she learn that he was next in line to inherit this magnificent realm.

Hearing the word Favour made gave out a gentle smile as there's definitely nothing sinister about it.

Yep, definitely nothing sinister at all as surely he wouldn't ask something in return.

"Speak and I may consider it" William replied

"May I meet with the Prisoners you've captured in the invasion?" Piña asked.

...story end...

What will be William's reaction?! What will he ask for in return? Find out in next episode of Gate: Rouge Trader.


	18. Chapter17

After Piña asked about the prisoners which William Naturally agrees. Then he began to inquire what became of the prisoners.

He soon learned that they were currently being held in a facility waiting to be processed into survivors, he naturally quickly put an order to hult their processing.

Soon he lead Piña, Boze and Lelei dawn to said facility, he left the rest back at the upper hive as certain things are better without them knowing.

They took the elevator and soon arrived at the level the Servitor processing facility.

It's a dark dimly lite place with ducts and pipes all over the walls.

Piña, Boze and Lelei followed close behind William as this place just gives them the wrong vibe. The abnormal amount of "servo-skulls" further reinforced their weariness of this area.

Where ever they go the floating skull would keep their gaze locked on them, making it a frightening scene for these people who has never seen a servo skull before.

They're hearing the churning of machines at the distance and if one listens carefully, they might also hears the wails coming from the air ducts of the "undesirables" screaming in pain as they're being processed into servitors. (imagine that scene form a certain doctor who episode where rows people are walking into the processing facility and turned into Cybermen, with buzzsaw and such. Sad that such a great franchise turned into crap, if only they had continued with the time lord victorius thingy :( )

While the faint screams of pain went relatively unnoticed by their conscious mind, however the human subconscious is quite keen on picking up on these minute things. Hence this is where the eerie creepy feeling comes from as the human subconscious is tries to alert the conscious mind of these things.

They walked through the long maze like corridor and soon is greeted by a large hooded figure, wearing red robes. In front of a thick metal door.

"greetings lord William" the adept greeted William in an strange fuzzy echoey voice as if the speaker was speaking to them in an armor but obviously the person in front of them while his hood obscures his fact but it's clear that he's not wearing armor.

"greetings adept Lorence, I trust that you've already been informed why I'm here"

"that is correct"

William then turns to Piña, Boze and Lelei and said " This is Adept Lorence a member of the adeptus mechanicus mechanics which are responsible for the maintaining the machines that run our daily lives."

William gestures to the adept before he continues on "now then follow close behind me and don't wonder off"

Soon the big doors opens leading them to another set of long maze like corridors, it was much the same as before except for the number sealed metal doors they had to pass through before they arrive at the holding facility.

As they were about to enter the particular holding facility where the people the princess is interested is at, the door suddenly swings open and out came a horrifying creature half man half machine.

""Hiiii!"" Piña and Boze screams

The servitor ignores the screaming as it lumbers out off the room and walks out of sight.

"calm dawn, it was just a servitor"

"Wh... What was it?" Piña demanded

"that was a servitor" Lelei answered

"Servitor?" Boze asked not quite sure what the word meant.

"They're mechanical servants of half man half machine made by the mechanicus"

"They were made?" The made Piña and Boze confused.

"Yes, they were made... via alchemical process before being joined by mechanical components." Lelei explained what she read.

Seeing weary faces they're making William steps in

"They're like slaves but unlike slaves who have a nasty tendency of staring slave uprising, servitors are quite safe as they don't have a mind of thier own and only knows how to obey orders"

William explains to reassure them and it seemed to have worked some what as they'll have to trust his word for now.

They then enters the room.

After they enters the room they're soon covered thier noses as they're greeted by a heavy stench as the prisoners has been bathed since being captured.

They enters the room and walks through rows upon rows of cell blocks.

"Princess? Is that you?"

Not long after one of the seems to have recognise Piña as he quickly rushes to the front of the cage and begs her to get him out of here.

"Please Princess please get me out of here"

Not long after the other inmates also notice them and followed the first guy's example.

"Princess?"

"She's here to get us out"

"Please save us princess"

...

Soon a massive crowed formed in front of the cells, reaching out their hands through the bars towards the princess begging for their rescue.

Seeing the mob like that made Piña step back a bit in fright.

With the situation starting to become chaotic the alarms rang as rows of prison guards rushes out with stun batons.

Seeing the alarm rang the inmates quickly rushes to the of the cell as they clearly don't want to be at the very front when these guys shows up.

With order restored he let Piña do her thing and conversed with a prisoner.

The prisoner then unloads all the horrible things he has been through, after being captured he was given horrible food that tastes mud, being regularly brutalized by the guards and once in awhile he would see the guards drags a few people away never to be heard of again.

He then silently whispers to Piña that he could hear people's screams of pain from the air tubes (air ducts) and those screams would keep him wake at night, he shares with her that he has heard from the other inmates that the ones the guards take away would be turned into one of "them".

"i have heard from the other inmates that the ones that got taken away, would be turned into one of "them""

Once he said the word "them" seems to made him recall all the people that got taken away and all the screams he has heard, he soon broke dawn and begins to cry as he begs the princess's rescue.

"those screams... Those scream... Alm, Burka, Borris, Brutus... they took them! They took them all away! Save me princess! I beg of you! Please get me out of this hell hole"

Seeing the unstableness of the prisoner the guards quickly rushes in and Zaps the prisoner unconscious with the electric stun baton.

Piña back away to Boze visibly nerved by the prisoner's reaction.

At this moment the door of the facility opens as a servitor walks in to deliver "food" (recycled waste material that all normal imperial citizens eat) to the prisoners.

However, as the servitor walks by it stopped right next to Piña and stared at her for a moment, before it started to act strangely as a coarse static voice leaks out of its mouth.

"P"

The servitor said a word which made everyone frown as a spark leaks of a circuit from it's neck.

"P.P...P"

The servitor said again before it started trembling and sparks starts to leaks out all through out it's body.

"...na"

At this time the guards rushes in and struck the malfunctioning servitor with their shock maul, short-circuiting the malfunctioning servitor.

Piña gasped at the situation saying "that..."

Boze on "I know princess"

At this time William walks over and said "ah... Don't worry such malfunctions do occasionally happens but I do assures you that these situations are quite rare, so you can be at ease in knowing that survivors are quite harmless"

And to further prove a point William kicks the smoking servitor on the ground.

Smack

A bunch of guys eventually came in and drags the broken servitor away to be "fixed".

The tour resumes and nothing much happens the rest of the day.

Later that night back at William's estate.

Piña is conversing to Boze what happened during the day and what horrors those prisoners are being turned into. Piña eventually arrives at the conclusion

"I have get them out of there as fast as possible" she said with clenched fist and renowned resolved.

"I agree your highness" Boze nods


End file.
